


The General's Slave

by Davechicken



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: (OK occasionally does the sex), Asexual Character, But not the protagonists, Eventual Happy Ending, M/M, NON MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Who doesn't do the sex, but doesn't mind others doing the do, sex-positive asexual
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-09-06 08:39:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8743012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Davechicken/pseuds/Davechicken
Summary: Hux is given a ship... and a slave. 
He only wanted one.





	1. Chapter 1

General Hux. It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? _Gen-er-al_. General. General Hux. Commander of the _Finalizer_. His first real command, his first full commission. He’s earned it through hard work (and _not_ through nepotism – as if Brendol Hux would ever do anything to promote his ‘son’), and as he walks through the corridors of his freshly-hewn ship, he knows every inch of it is his to control. 

Giddy with it, he almost wants to… dare he? No one is around. He pulls one glove off, and reaches to touch the bulkhead. Warmcold metal, and his fingers feel for the struts and panels as he walks and drags his hand over the inner workings of his new baby.

He loves her already. 

He’s had the tour of the bridge, the main engineering sections, the officer’s canteen, the troopers’ barracks. All the key places, and he’s made his first announcement accepting every soul into his service. Pledging his own talents and loyalty, demanding the same in return. He hopes they understand what his offer means, but he’ll show them in time, all the same. 

The last place is one he doesn’t want anyone to escort him to: his quarters. He knows the specifications (of course), but seeing inside the commander’s private rooms is something else entirely. He palms at the door, and steps in with his eyes closed to take a sniff, first. To let the room in by degrees, and stretch this moment out for as—

Hux looks down, startled, at the sudden noise. A rustling, and his eyes land on a kneeling body. It’s male. Pale, and dark-haired. The head is angled down, but Hux can see the chain that falls from the throat and to the hands. There’s one linking the ankles together, too, and… why is there a man in a loincloth and heavy duty chains in his _room_?

Silence and an expectant heart gets him no answer, so he decides to try a more active route.

“What are you doing in my room?”

Up tilts the head, then, and Hux is startled by the bird-like face below the soft curls. A large nose, and knife-point eyes spear up at him. “I’m here for you.”

“I don’t want you.”

“Good.”

This is… unexpected. “Who sent you?”

The man shrugs, and pulls his feet closer. “Leader.”

“You’re… a gift from the Supreme Leader himself?”

A sigh. “Yes.”

That changes things. Hux might not want a cranky pleasure slave, but he definitely wants the Supreme Leader to remain positively disposed towards him. “…then I have to keep you.”

“You just said you don’t _want me_.”

“I don’t.”

“So why don’t you just let me go?”

“Because that would be rude of me.”

“And keeping a slave isn’t?”

Hux shrugs. “The Leader’s opinion matters more than yours.” It’s the brutal truth of the situation, and he watches as consternation, apoplexy and disgust rove over the man’s expressive face.

“Fine. I’m your _devoted servant_.”

He does not sound it. “Oh, come now. You’re not going to speak to me like that… what is your name, anyway?”

“Like it matters?”

“Do you _want_ to be called ‘Slave’ or ‘Boy’ for the rest of your life?”

The man looks ready to strangle him. He’s really not a very good slave at all, which Hux is… sort of offended by? Is it meant to be a challenge for him, or is it meant to be an insult? Is he supposed to break him in? Or just… suffer?

“Kylo,” says the man, eventually.

“Kylo. You know who I am?”

A rough nod.

“You’re to refer to me as General, or Sir.”

The eyeroll is almost _audible_. 

“I didn’t catch your agreement.”

“Yes, _Sir_.”

“I’m tired. Can you see to yourself?”

“I’m not a _child_.”

“Then don’t act like it,” Hux says, and strides into his bedroom. He’s so not in the mood to deal with this.

***

Hux walks out of the ‘fresher in his neatly warm pyjamas, only to find his bed is already occupied. 

“Excuse me?”

“What?”

“…that’s my bed,” Hux points out. “Don’t you have your own?”

“I’m a _pleasure slave_ ,” Kylo tells him, with yet more sass. “I don’t have _anything_ unless I’m given it.”

“Well… there’s a couch.”

“You’re seriously kicking me out of bed?”

“Did I stutter?” How is this impudent little… breathe. Slow. In. Out. “You’re not sharing my bed.”

“Even when we fuck?”

Hux chokes. “What?”

“Oh, don’t pretend you don’t realise what a man in chains in your room is for,” Kylo snarks. “Or do you prefer girls? Because you can just fucking… go behind me and pretend my long hair is—“

“I’m not _fucking you_ , Kylo!”

“Sure. Fine. Blow-jobs?”

“Get _out_ ,” he shrills. “Couch! Now! Bad slave!”

“Whatever,” Kylo says, and walks out of the room. It almost sounds like ‘I hope you choke and die’.

Hux locks his room, and sits down on the bed.

Tomorrow. He’ll work out how to deal with him tomorrow.

***

Kylo’s eyes follow him from the couch. He’s curled up, his arms wrapped around him. He looks _cold_ , and Hux realises he’s slept there without a blanket, even. That sends a stab of guilt through him.

“Do you even have clothes?”

“I have what you see,” Kylo answers. 

“I’ll get you some sent down.”

Kylo’s chest heaves, but he doesn’t thank him. 

“Look, you don’t want to be here, I don’t want you here, why don’t we just be civil?” He’s being more than fair, he thinks. He has a lodger he never wanted, and he’s offering him board and clothing, and demanding little in return but manners and respect.

“It’s hard to be civil when you don’t have any rights,” the man responds.

“The Leader put you into this position,” Hux reminds him. Which is as close to treasonous language as he’ll ever use. “If I treat you with respect, I’ll expect it in return.”

“So I have to bow and scrape because you offered me a shirt?”

“If it escaped your notice, I am the _General_. Everyone on this ship is under my command, slave or not.” Hux’s patience is starting to wear thin. “Now, you can work with me, or you can fight me. If you fight me, you should know you have nothing to gain, and everything to lose.”

“Right. So, threats. Perfect way to get me to—“

Hux grabs the metal links hanging from his collar, and yanks them. “The whole point of a chain of command is that the ones at the top pull it. I am in command, and you are sorely testing what little patience I have, Kylo.”

“I’m _very_ sorry.”

“Why the hell did he even give you to me?”

“Because I’m a failed Knight,” the man spits. 

“Knight?”

Kylo lifts his cuffed wrists. “These constrain my Force ability. I wasn’t _obedient_ enough, or _successful_ enough, so he turned me into a nothing and gave me to you as punishment. Maybe for both of us.”

“You have the Force?”

“Well, not _now_.”

“But if I took those off, you would?”

That’s when the man realises there’s actual possibilities, because his shoulders stop arching so much, and he nods. He’s still wary, but he knows… or hopes. 

“I see. Well. That’s interesting information.” Very interesting. “I’ll get those clothes sent up. I think you’ll find you get more boons if you behave yourself, though.”

A pause, and then another nod. His eyes avert, and Hux lets go of the chain. 

Very, very intriguing.

***

When he returns that night, he finds Kylo hasn’t dressed. It takes a moment for him to realise the chains between hands and feet stop that, and he stares. “Is there a key?”

Kylo nods.

“Where is it?”

The man goes over to one of the shelves, and brings back a small box. The key… is right there? Why didn’t…

“It’s programmed to your touch,” Kylo explains. “Believe me, I tried.”

“Will the chains being removed give you the Force?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.”

It’s a risk, but the man can’t go around like this. It’s ludicrous. Hux unclips his feet first, and then his wrists. The cuffs remain in place, but unlinked. 

“Thank you,” Kylo says, with a little gruffness. 

“I may remove the others, if your behaviour is satisfactory,” he explains. “But for now, get dressed. I have more work to do, yet.”

“But it’s off-duty time?”

“And?”

“…nevermind.” Kylo grabs the clothes he’s obviously been wanting all day, shrugging into the cloth. He picks a shirt with a high neck, covering the collar. Pants and cuffs do the same to legs and arms, and then he’s almost… normal. Other than the chain that still hangs down from his throat. 

Hux walks away, closing the key back inside the box and pocketing it. He goes to the couch that looks most comfortable and lies down with his tablet. He’s tired, and he wants to rest, but he knows if he goes to bed he might sleep. 

When Kylo comes over to the couch and waits for a moment before dropping to kneel beside it, he’s startled. He looks over to the man, trying to read his face, but not understanding in the slightest. 

Kylo’s hands are face-up on his knees, and his posture is good. Attentive, respectful. Where did he learn this, Hux wonders? There’s no movement, and he realises it’s just a well-behaved slave behaviour. _Respectful_. That feels nice, and so he grabs a cushion and throws it down.

“For your knees,” he explains. 

“T-thank you,” Kylo stammers, obviously torn between masochism and comfort. 

“You should use it. I have a lot to do.”

Kylo nods, and puts the cushion in place. He drops into a tenable position, and Hux smiles as he works.

***

Kylo is not in his bed this time, but he _is_ kneeling beside it.

“Didn’t I make myself clear?”

“…I wasn’t trying to seduce you.” 

Kylo is angry, then, and Hux can’t understand. 

“Why are you there, then?”

“So you can dismiss me, or… whatever.”

O-H. It’s. It’s a respect thing. Like the kneeling by the couch. Kylo might not want the role, but he’s trying to execute it. Hux understands that, and he appreciates it. A soft smile. “I see. Thank you, Kylo. Please take what you need from the linen closet, and make yourself comfortable for the night. I will resume your duties in the morning.”

“Yes, Sir,” he says, and lifts himself up. 

“If you continue to please me, I will requisition you a day bed that you can use instead.”

A pause, and a nod, and Kylo leaves him alone. 

Hux does not lock the door.

***

It can’t be a good life for Kylo, cooped up in their rooms all day, Hux thinks as he taps a stylus to his lips. It’s a complete waste of his time. He’s not sure _what_ use he can put him to, but he…

“Sir?”

Oh, he’d been drifting. “Yes?”

“Do we have your permission?”

“Yes. But check back with me in a week with your results.”

He’s not sure if that’s the right answer, and his lack of due diligence annoys him. He’d been daydreaming about his – about Kylo. Which was unprofessional of him, and he was going to need to focus harder on his real tasks. 

Hux works himself harder to punish himself for his weakness.

***

“What… did you do before?” Hux asks.

“…I was a Knight.”

“Yes, you said. But what did you _do_?”

“…I… trained. And… I went on missions.”

“Trained how?”

“Physically, and with the Force.”

Hmm. Hux can’t risk uncollaring the boy, but he could… “Would you be able to work on conditioning specific troopers, do you think?”

Kylo’s head tilts. “Why?”

“You must be bored, and you have talents. If it pleases you, it would benefit the Order, and keep you occupied. So. No reason not to.”

Kylo’s head tilts the other way. “What’s the catch?”

“No catch. You stop being bored, and my troopers get better. Like I said, it’s logical.”

Kylo nods, ponderously slow. “And in return?”

“You continue to behave as you have been.”

“You’re a weird master, you know?”

Hux smiles. “I’m a weird many things.”

***

Hux still doesn’t know why the Leader gave him Kylo. He’s not actually that difficult to train, once you understand him. His snark isn’t always insubordinate, it’s instinctual. He’s smart, and strong, and if you give him reasonable tasks to perform, he always does. 

He responds well to gentle praise and precise instructions. Sometimes he tries to rules-lawyer his way out of things, but Hux _relishes_ that, because it hones his own talents. And when he sees the challenges to his authority, command, or instructions as _playful_ instead of offensive, it becomes enjoyable for them both. 

It’s been a while since he’s met anyone who’s quick-minded enough to give him a run for his credits, and he has it in Kylo. He’ll pick and pull at the edges, and Hux finds he’s more precise and fore-thinking as a result. 

In a way, it’s almost pleasant. Having someone who understands the way your mind works, and not just… kowtowing. Hux has to fight to remain in control all the time, and he knows when he _gets_ his way that it’s earned, and not conceded due to rank or title. 

Kylo wears only the collar, and no chain. It suppresses his Force-sensitivity, because Hux isn’t sure he’s ready for that. Soon, maybe. 

He trains his men. He provides a sounding-board in private. He helps with Hux’s speeches, and it’s almost like having a husband, he imagines. Hux is beyond pleased, now he’s stopped taking out his temper on the General. 

***

That night, he feels the dip in the bed and he turns to see he’s not alone. Whites glitter around black holes, and Hux is startled. “Kylo?”

“Don’t you like me?” the man asks, not touching him. 

“I like you plenty, where is this coming from?”

“I’m your _slave_ , Hux. Not… not a private tutor for promising students. I’m… this isn’t what you’re supposed to use me for.”

“Do you not enjoy it?”

“That’s not the point.”

Hux rolls to face him, and pushes a hand under his pillow. “Why not?”

“You’re supposed to… am I ugly?”

For the love of… “Well, no. It’s… stop making that face! I just… don’t need to have sex, alright? You’re perfectly attractive, I just…”

“Is it because you’d rather a female?”

“No! No. I just… haven’t…” Oh, blast. “I don’t. Do that.”

“With anyone?”

Hux nods. 

“…can I still… do you need me to leave your bed?”

“Depends, are you going to try to force yourself on me?” Hux jokes, except it’s not a joke. 

“…no?”

“Then… no. I’m not.”

Kylo rolls, and turns to face him. “Do you miss it?”

“Sex?”

Kylo nods.

“I’ve never needed – or wanted – it. I sometimes… wonder what it would be like, but…” He’s never mentioned it, not really, and he realises how much it had built up inside of him. “But I can’t make it work like everyone else seems to.”

“Did you try?”

“ _Plenty_.” Bitterness creeps in, and he… fuck. Why is he even admitting this? “It’s alright.”

“If… you wanted me to try, I could…?”

“I’m not sure I want you to,” Hux admits. “It just… doesn’t. Not like everyone else seems to want it. It’s not that you’re unattractive, if that’s your worry.”

Kylo thinks about it, and then a hand touches his hip, just fleetingly. “I was angry you didn’t want me.”

“Even though you didn’t want to be used?”

“Yeah. Dumb, huh?”

“Not really,” Hux says. “I’d be offended by not being wanted, too.”

Kylo smiles. “Can I… still stay?”

“Like I said: if you don’t… expect anything.”

But he does, doesn’t he? There’s that line of worry on his face, and…

“What about… is all touching out of bounds? Or just… sexual?”

Hux actually laughs, and then he sees the flinch on Kylo’s face. “You want to cuddle?”

“…I’ll leave, it’s—“

He grabs Kylo’s wrist as he starts to slide backwards, and shakes his head. “That’s not out of bounds.”

Kylo winces, and then looks up. “But you don’t… want it?”

“Never had it, so I don’t know.”

A wriggle closer. “It gets lonely. On my own.” 

“Then… don’t be on your own.”

Slowly, they work closer. Hux feels legs brush his, and he feels a little giddy. Not aroused, but… close? It’s a different kind of sensation, and then Kylo’s curling up in his arms, and Hux feels… happy? Warm… 

Nice. 

Although he is a little worried Kylo will feel hard done by, but then… he is his slave. Isn’t he supposed to want whatever Hux does? Apparently, even if Hux doesn’t know he wants it.

***

In the morning, Hux feels an unfamiliar swell in Kylo’s pants, in his arms. It’s odd, and he can tell by Kylo’s breathing that he’s awake. 

“If you want to deal with that – if you still can – you’re welcome to do so,” Hux offers.

“It’s not—“

“I’m not going to stop you,” Hux points out. “Just because I don’t do it doesn’t mean you have to stop.”

“It’s… _wrong_.”

“Not really.” Hux nuzzles his neck. “It’s okay. I give you permission.”

He lies there, arm over his hip, feeling the rocking in his slave’s body as his hand awkwardly, brusquely beats himself off. It’s strange, and Hux still doesn’t feel anything. Well, other than a strangely benevolent warmth from knowing Kylo’s enjoying himself, and when he’s done, he kisses his shoulder. 

“…wasn’t weird?” Kylo asks.

“A little. But you needed it.”

“You’re not disgusted?”

Hux laughs. “No. I’m not. Can’t say I’m that… interested, other than for you to feel better.”

Kylo rolls, and Hux sees the damp patch. He’s curious, but not in a ‘touch’ way. Maybe some other time, but right now he just wants to continue the cuddling. 

“You’re a weird Master.”

“You’re a weird slave,” Hux counters. 

“…yeah, but…”

Hux snorts. “Shut up. That’s an order. You can ask permission to deal with your boners from now on. I might be merciful if you’ve been good. How does that sound?”

Kylo’s eyes widen, and it’s clear it’s a good thing to say. Hux feels spreading warmth, and realises he’s… happy when Kylo is happy. Odd. He’s not sure he’s ever felt such a kinship before, even if it was artificially started. What they’ve made of it is _theirs_ , though.

Hux taps the collar. “One day, I’d like to take that off. Open my door. See if you…”

“Stay?”

He doesn’t nod, just watch his eyes. 

“You’ll see,” is all Kylo says, and slides in against him. 

“Would you still call me ‘Master’?”

“If you deserved the title, of course,” Kylo replies. He places a very, very sweet kiss to his cheek. “I wouldn’t bow and scrape to just anyone. Not… now.”

“So if I gave you away?”

The pale flush is weirdly… nice to see. 

“I’m not going to,” Hux reassures him. “I like having you around, odd as that might sound.”

“I… yes.” Kylo nods. 

Hux shouldn’t. He shouldn’t, but he climbs out of bed. Kylo’s hands follow, then fall down. His Knight watches as he retrieves the small box from his jacket, a torn expression on his face.

_If you love something, let it go_.

“Sir?”

“You know what I offer,” Hux says. “You know what this is. You know… what I want.”

“I do.”

Hux pushes his thumb into the box, and he tosses the key onto the bed. 

He’s surprised to see Kylo pick it up, and work the keyring loop around the O-ring of his collar. There, but unused. 

An open offer of real submission, of real possession. He’s free to go, and he chooses not to. Hux smiles, and slides back under the sheets, opening his arms for his pleasure slave. 

“Are kisses okay?” Kylo asks.

“They are,” Hux agrees.

Kisses are nice. Cuddles are nice. Nicer still is knowing they’re wanted at all.  


	2. Chapter 2

Hux has never really regretted his decision to let Kylo into his bed. Other than the times his slave has stolen all the covers in the night, but most mornings he wakes up warm and tangled up in him. Hux had thought it impossible to find someone – what with his lack of interest in _that_ – but Kylo stopped pushing once he knew the reason behind the rejections. 

The man doesn’t always wake when Hux does, his face slack and peaceful. His hair is caught in a simple snap at his neck, so he doesn’t smother Hux in his sleep, and his long lashes touch his cheeks as his eyes read through the dreams his mind projects for him. Full lips part, and the tiniest hint of white teeth behind.

In sleep, he is... he finds a kind of peace that Hux envies. Maybe his own body looks like this when he’s unconscious, but he’ll never know. It’s that peace that gnaws at his belly, and makes his eyes linger over his form. 

Does he want him? He can’t tell. He’s never sure what arousal or sexual interest really _felt_ like, because he’s never been so obsessed that he’s needed to do it. He’ll stroke his cock in the shower, but just linger over it when he’s cleaning. Soft little tingles, but no pressing drive for anything else. 

Would he even know if he could? If he was aroused? Just a little? Is there a point before when you can nudge yourself into feeling? Hux doesn’t know. He’s happy as he is, but sometimes he worries Kylo is missing out. 

He’s attractive, definitely. Hux admires the curve of his neck, the muscular shoulders and pecs. The slender collar around his throat with the key looped into place. The perk of pink nipples. He’s always been attractive, but in a clinical way. With every passing day together, though, it deepens into something else. He lets his fingers slide over his slave’s collarbone, and drops a kiss to his temple.

Sleepy eyes blink up at him, one opening faster than the other. His lips curve into a lop-sided smile, and Hux returns it.

“Is it late?” Kylo slurs.

“Still early.”

“Want me to wake?”

Hux takes Kylo’s hands, and pushes them into the pillows above his head. “I want you to explain to me what it feels like.”

His lover’s eyes widen, and then his tongue flicks out to wet his lips. “Always.”

Hux doesn’t prevent him from satisfying himself, well. Other than making him beg nicely before he can touch himself. He normally just watches, or makes Kylo straddle his hips as he beats himself off. It’s fascinating to watch, because his face goes through a whole gamut of emotion as well as sensation. Hux finds it’s intriguing, but not arousing. Pleasurable, because he likes to see Kylo happy, and intense because of the power Kylo surrenders in giving the permission to him. 

“How do you tell you want it?” Hux asks, stroking a hand over his chest. He likes these kinds of touches himself, but that’s about it. Just touches, and no expectation of a particular ending. 

“Sometimes you’re already there. You just... do want it. Sometimes... it’s like an itch forming, or... the tingle before you need to sneeze. Or like... when you’re a little hungry, and then you smell something, and it’s then all you can think about...”

That makes some sense, being a bodily urge. “What about if you don’t eat?”

“Depends how hungry you were. If you... aren’t that hungry, it goes away. If you’re very hungry, you either eat or find something that completely kills the mood.”

“So if I made you wait?”

“...I’d... possibly remain hungry until you let me, or I’d... I don’t know...”

“Would you like to try some time?”

“...would you... uhm. If I really... needed?”

“If you genuinely felt uncomfortable, we’d stop, or move on,” Hux agrees. “I just... like the idea of you craving, and being made to wait.”

Kylo’s head tilts. “Why? Don’t you... I thought you didn’t like sex?”

“ _I_ don’t want to have it. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want others to. You’re... it’s nice, when you orgasm. You look happy.”

Kylo blushes crimson. “If it doesn’t make you uncomfortable... I like... you watching. And controlling.”

“You don’t mind that I don’t?”

“I’d prefer that you did, but now I know it’s not... me failing you... it’s easier.”

“So... you’re game for trying things?”

Happy, hopeful brown eyes and a lot of nods.

“I want you to think about things you _don’t_ want to try, and things you do. After all, I’ve got less of an insight into that.”

“...what do you get out of it?”

Which is – he has to admit – a fair question. “I get to see you enjoy yourself. I get to understand and control you better.”

“You’ve got a funny way of being someone’s Master.”

“Say that again when you haven’t come all week and I’m making you give me backrubs,” Hux laughs, and climbs out of bed. 

He feels Kylo’s eyes on his ass as he goes to the shower. It’s not – he doesn’t want _touching_ – but he gets a thrill out of the attention, all the same.

***

That evening, Hux opens his comm to a private message from Kylo. Sent a minute after his shift ends, on purpose. 

To his delight, it contains some organised lists. A ‘Do Want’, a ‘Do Not Want’ and a ‘I Think But I’m Not Sure’ list. There’s interactive information, so when he clicks on each act, a brief description or image appears, which he can then click out of. 

Kylo must have spent all day on it. To his delight, they aren’t even all overtly sexual. There’s plenty on this list that look not overtly sexual, or maybe that’s the next step after them. Some even look like he might enjoy them, and there’s plenty of scope within them. Some need supplies (quite a few of the things Kylo likes include ropes it looks like, or some form of switch or crop), and some of them are just ways to be spoken to, or ordered around. 

When he gets in, he finds Kylo watching his face for clues. He allows him an enigmatic smile, and nods. “I’ll need to get some things in, but yes.”

“Nothing... you... uhm?”

“Didn’t like?” Though he can hear – somehow – the word ‘disgust’ echoed in the air. “Nothing of the sort.”

“I got your favourite stew and then fresh fruit for dinner,” Kylo says. “I didn’t get much else done today.”

“You were still doing something I’d asked, and so you’re excused.” 

Kylo nods, and steps in to take his gloves and coat. Hux allows it, and thinks Snoke picked better than he could have imagined.

***

That night, Kylo is more affectionate than usual. He runs his hands over Hux’s waist, and Hux turns his back to him, expectantly. Sure enough, Kylo gets the picture and his broad hands start to rub deeply at his shoulders. He’s an adept at that, and Hux is a purring mess of nerves before long. 

“What would I do without you?” he asks.

“Eat less frequently, and be colder in bed,” Kylo replies. 

Both true. Kylo does have a habit of keeping him fed properly, which Hux appreciates immensely. He turns his head over his shoulder, meeting his eyes. “What about you, with no me?”

The hands stop moving, a pallor walking over his face. “I’d be colder, too.”

“I mean it... you were given to me because you needed to be punished, weren’t you?”

He looks ready to bolt, so Hux rolls and catches his hands. 

“Don’t you trust me by now?”

“That’s not the point.”

“...then why won’t you tell me?” Hux taps the key that hangs from his collar. The one that offers freedom any moment Kylo chooses.

The one he hasn’t used.

Kylo winces, and his eyes go to the bedside cabinet. He leans over Hux, grabs the wrist restraints, and slaps them onto the General before he can resist.

“...what the?”

“They dampen the Force.”

“Which I don’t _have_.”

“Which flows in you, and which... the Leader can control.”

Hux’s brow wrinkles. “You put them on so he can’t surveil us?”

A nod.

“Kylo, what the hell happened?”

The Knight sucks his lips in, his eyes narrow and hurting. Hux touches his cheek, trying to calm him down. 

“I’ve been his... I...”

Hux has never seen Kylo this distressed, and it’s unsettling. 

“It’s alright.”

“I wasn’t always... here. Before. I was... someone else.”

Someone else? Hux slips back just a fraction. “Who were you?”

“My... mother was... Leia Organa, and my father...” A little hiccup. “Han Solo.”

Rebellion Generals. The heir of Alderaan and the smuggler who helped destroy the Death Stars. Now that he says it, he can see the familial resemblance. “Who are you?”

“I am Kylo, once of Ren. I... _was_...”

Ben. That was the boy’s name, wasn’t it? A long, long time ago. He vaguely remembers the holos, and then there’d been a big silence, after. Hux had never been one for galactic gossip, particularly about his enemies. 

“Then you joined the Order?”

“And I became the First Knight. The Master of Ren. That was me, but... I failed the Leader, and he was... he was _angry_ with me.”

“What did you do?”

“...it’s more what I failed to do.”

More silence, and the man’s face melts with his sadness. “I couldn’t kill them. I tried, but I couldn’t... he asked me to destroy my mother.”

Oh. “And in return, he took the Force away from you?”

Kylo nods. “But when he did that, it meant he could no longer... read my mind.”

“Which he used to do?”

Another nod.

“How often?”

“...often enough. I... was never sure when he was really gone. It was a blessing, though he probably didn’t think of it like that. The bubble around me... gave me my mind back.”

Fuck. “So that’s why you didn’t take it off?”

“...and... sentimentality. It’s... so you’re sure I’m... so you know.”

“Kylo... whilst I’m glad you want to stay with me, I’m also concerned that you feel you _need_ to.”

“It’s fine.”

“How is that fine?”

“You don’t think I’m happy?” Kylo scoots away from him, his body-language going closed. 

“Maybe you are, but you’re also only here because the alternative is worse?”

“Isn’t that what _making a choice_ is about?”

“So I’m one step better than someone who used to enter your mind and told you to commit matricide?”

Kylo jumps out of the bed, and Hux... Hux isn’t sure how this is even now a fight. “Kylo... don’t go.”

“You clearly want me to,” he says, and storms into the other room, slamming the door behind. 

Hux takes a breath. Two. Three.

When he gets out of bed, he tries the door, only to find it’s jammed, somehow. “Kylo...”

“I don’t want to talk to you!” comes the voice from the other side.

“Kylo, I just – I just wanted... damnit... I didn’t want to feel like you were only here because I wasn’t Snoke.”

“So?”

“Don’t you think I’d rather you wanted to stay because of who I _am_ instead of who I am _not_?”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

Hux pushes his head to the door. “No.”

“Why not?”

“One implies a lack of being something, the other implies... valuing who and what I _am_.” Which, apparently, is important now. 

He does let the man sleep in his bed. He _has_ offered to touch his penis. Of course what Kylo thinks of him matters. 

The door opens, and he sees a broken man on the other side. His eyes are puffy and red from crying, his hair half out of the tie. “I’m sorry,” he mumbles. “I didn’t mean to make you think you... I just... I don’t know what the fuck I’m supposed to do, anyway. He told me all things you don’t even want, and I try to work out what you do, but I—“

Hux catches his face in one hand, pulling him in so their foreheads touch. “You do wonderfully for me. I mean that. I didn’t even _want_ you, and you know I didn’t. But now... I... I don’t want to lose you. Even if I gave you that key.”

“You know, the key wasn’t what I needed to run.” Kylo turns his face into the hand holding him. “But it was nice of you to do it. Once you pulled all the other chains and cuffs off me, I was... the freest I remember being in my life.”

“And you didn’t want to run?”

A tiny shake of his head. “Not... then.”

Hux laughs, and tilts Kylo in to kiss him. It’s a slow kiss, and he’s found he likes those quite a lot. He pushes his fingers into his hair, caressing his scalp, and licks until he feels the start of a smile in place. Harder, and Kylo’s hand clutch at his shoulders. 

There’s a moment when he doesn’t know what will happen next, and then he feels himself lifted by strong arms at his ass, and he’s pushed against the wall. It’s not at _all_ what a pleasure slave should do – not without asking, or being ordered to – but he’s so much more than just a bedwarmer, isn’t he? Hux feels a weird twinge between his legs, and is startled to find the edges of arousal in his body.

Kylo freezes, looking down in shock. 

“Do... do you want me to stop?”

“...no?”

“Will you tell me if you do?”

Hux nods. He’s never really... well. Sometimes in mornings, but never as a result of touching before. He wraps his legs around Kylo’s waist, and holds onto his neck and shoulders. “Keep talking to me. Please.”

“I – right, I... I could have run any time, but I... didn’t want to. You... treated me nicer than anyone I could remember, even when you were being an ass. You... fuck. I... you make me laugh, and you’re... smart. And... I... damnit, Hux, don’t you know all this?”

Trust him to get off on being pinned to a wall and told how great he was. Hux almost laughs, and he drags his hands over the front of Kylo’s chest. “No. You were my slave. Why was I supposed to know that?”

“...well. You do. You’re... beautiful. Really the most beautiful man I ever met, and you’re so _fierce_ and dedicated and I... like... being around you...”

Hux moans, and sinks his teeth into Kylo’s neck. 

Encouraged, the Knight goes on. He puts a hand between them, his fingers finding his cock. Hux winces at the stimulation, and ruts up into his grip. “K-keep going.”

“Love... to kiss you, to hold you. Love it when you hold me. Don’t even care if you never fuck me. Just want you. Just _want_ you...”

Hux is startled by the way he can feel his pulse pounding in his dick. Kylo’s touches are firm, sure, and delicious. He isn’t sure if he’s going to manage to climax, but this is as close as he remembers feeling. His heels dig into his ass, and he throws his head back to the wall. “Your mouth... please... Kylo...”

Hands hoist him up, and he drops his legs over shoulders as a warm mouth envelops his cock. It’s soft and wet, and he’s clawing at Kylo’s head as he fights the worry. Without the words, it’s a little less good, but the look on Kylo’s face as he gulps him gratefully down...

Hux sees the cuffs on his wrists, then. Cuffs keeping him as safe as Kylo is, and he feels an angry wash of protectiveness that Snoke did this to Kylo. He tugs him free of his lap, his tongue vibrating in barely-channelled rage.

“Is that what you want?” he asks. 

Kylo blinks up at him. “What?”

“You want to be fucked? Is that what you want most?”

He’s currently hard enough, and he’s never been this full and thick before. Even when he’d get himself to a reedy climax on the rare occasions he’d tried. If that’s what Kylo feels he’s lacking in life, it would be a crying shame to not give it to him on the one time he could. 

Awkward hunger lights his face, and he gives a little nod. “Want... to be yours,” Kylo stammers out. “Not because he gave me to you.”

“You want to give yourself to me, and have me take you. You want this to be _our_ decision, and not his?”

A glassy-eyed nod, and Kylo swallows, hard. “I love you,” he whispers. “Have done for a while.”

Shit. Fuck. Damn. Stars. Maker. Force. Anything and everything. Hux slides his legs down, and stands as well as he can when all the blood is going elsewhere. “Then let me make you mine _properly_ ,” he insists. “Show you how much you mean to _me_ , that I want to fuck you.”

The coarse words past his lips feel almost wrong, but deliciously right. He’s not sure this will happen again, but it can happen this once, and he wants it to. Kylo means enough – means _everything_ – and he holds his hands out to help him up.

They both walk a bit stiff-legged to the bed, and Hux has a moment of panic when he doesn’t actually know how you do this. It’s not been really needed until now, as the few times he’s touched Kylo he’s not touched him there. Mostly the man had seen to himself under supervision, and...

Kylo grabs the lube for him, and starts to fuck one finger into his ass. Just like that. Straight into obedience, into offering himself. Hux watches in some kind of mingled disgust and delight as the digit penetrates him, the way his hole moves around it. He’s not going to fit in there, is he?

“Kylo...”

“I can... s-stop if you want me to, I—“ Tongue out, a whimper, and he’s got two fingers in, now. “J-just wanted to...”

“It’s not gonna fit.”

“It is! Just... just a bit...” Kylo whines, almost all of his hand moving between his legs. “D-did this... to myself a f-few times... thinking of you.”

Okay, that makes his cock harden again, and Hux growls. “How did you imagine I’d fuck you? On all fours? On your belly? On your back?”

“B-back... so I... so I could watch your face, and... and... see you were happy with me.”

“Get your hand out of your ass. I’m going in.” Whatever it does to them. Hux moves into the space between his legs, and helps as Kylo props himself up on soft pillows. He holds his own cock and presses the head to his hole.

“Please,” Kylo begs. “Please. I need you in me. Hux... I just... I need you. I need _you_. Not anyone else, not... ever...”

Fuck, but it makes his spine go to hot fire. Hux slams into him, then, wondering if it hurts. From the scream of bliss, it doesn’t. It’s more the knowledge of what he’s doing than the sensation in his own body, the way Kylo’s hands claw at the sheets as he’s stuffed full. Hux smiles, and listens to the ragged, wrecked breathing.

“...don’t stop,” Kylo begs. “Please. Please, Hux. I need you so much.”

“Even if I never fuck you again?”

“Yes – I – I don’t care, I just—you, Hux, it’s _you_.”

The words are sincere, or sound as close to it as Hux has ever heard someone sound. He feels the grip around him, and starts to fuck up and into him. It’s sloppy, and squelchy, and there’s all sorts of odd noises. Hux would normally find them a little repellent, but right now Kylo’s wild-eyed begging and moaning means he doesn’t. 

“You belong to me, don’t you?” Hux asks him.

“Yes, I’m yours, I swear I’m yours.”

“Not because he gave you to me.”

A mad shake of his head, and eyes that look nearly betrayed. “Because I’m _yours_. Yours. Not his.” 

Shit, shit, but that makes something expand inside, and Hux grabs the bed beside Kylo’s face. Nose along his, and a little snarl of ownership dripping from his lips. “He’s never having you back. Do you hear me? Never. You’re _mine_ now, and I’m **keeping you**.”

How broken the man must be, to want that. To get off so hard on being told he’s owned. How broken to fall in love with someone who literally possesses him. And here he is, his cock pinned between them. Strong enough to break Hux, even without the Force. Bent in half to be speared on his cock, willing to follow him without the hope of a single repeat performance.

It’s that surrender, that obedient affection that has Hux wrapped around Kylo’s finger as surely as Kylo is around his. They _belong_ together: a man who wants to own, and a man who wants to _be_ owned. 

“Please,” Kylo begs, face in his neck, nearly sobbing from the tension. “Whatever you want from me, I swear, it’s yours.”

“Everything.”

One word, and Kylo’s climax makes his body judder, the tug of it and the sudden gush of heat between them telling Hux what he needs to know. He has it, doesn’t he? He grabs Kylo’s hair, pulling it until the man gasps.

“I love you, too,” he says, as his own climax hits. It’s squelchier still, and like hot lines of feeling are drawn over him with melted wax pens. A yawn – a pop – and then he’s stuffing Kylo’s ass. It’s... yeah. Okay. 

Nowhere near as bad as he feared.

Kylo pulls him in to kiss, and Hux smiles into his mouth.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not my fault, Hux just went 'whoops look I have a boner deal with it'. (shrugs) He's still demi- grey- af, though. Don't worry, he's not magically fixed because he ejaculated. Because there's nothing TO fix :P


	3. Chapter 3

In the morning, Hux finds Kylo smiling right into his face when he wakes. He snorts in amusement, and lifts his hand to stroke him, only to see the cuff still in place.

“You... might want to wear it... at times,” Kylo suggests. “If you ever... you know. Think seditious thoughts.”

Hux looks at the metal, and nods. “I could have something more discreet made. Something that... I could always claim was a counterpoint to yours. So I could leash you to me, at any moment.”

“He could hardly object to that.”

Hux is actually pleased with himself for the thought. It’s got sufficient backing to be worth pursuing, and would keep his mind free. He’s not sure if the Leader has ever deemed his thoughts worthy of plundering, but this would put a pre-emptive stop to it, if not.

“Are you... sore at all?” Hux asks, delicately.

“...maybe a bit, but not terribly.” 

“So...?”

“Are you asking me to rate your dick, _Master_?”

Hux whacks at him. “Shut up. You know it was—“

“I know. And yes, it was wonderful. And no, I won’t suddenly change my mind and demand we do it all day, every day.”

Hux tilts his head. “Why are you so damned understanding?”

“Because... there’s things that matter more than twin orgasms, you know.” 

This is true. Hux grabs his hand, and lifts it to kiss at his knuckles. “We should get ready. I’ve a busy day. And then... someone wrote me a list I want to try out.”

***

Everyone acts like they did the day before, and Hux doesn’t know how to handle that. Of course he’s not going to announce to the ship at large (or even his command crew) that he just lost his virginity fucking his sex-slave raw, or that they’ve confessed their mutual love. But still... shouldn’t... shouldn’t it be obvious that his whole world has changed?

Hux had been convinced that his sexuality was ‘never’, but now it’s ‘okay sometimes maybe’. And that’s not a small change. 

He didn’t wake up hard, but neither did Kylo. He’d... enjoyed it. And if it happens again, he’s not going to run screaming from it, but he has no idea what his dick will do over the coming week, month, or life. Kylo was pretty clear he didn’t need it to happen again, and Hux has never been disgusted with the thought of Kylo’s own climaxes, so...

It’s just strange, and he feels all alive inside, and he can’t stop smiling or thinking about that broken confession of love, or of realising he felt the same way, too. The world is changed, or he is. He’s changed, and no one seems to know but he himself, and Kylo. 

The day can’t pass quickly enough.

***

Back in their rooms, and Kylo is kneeling, waiting for him. He’s naked, wearing his collar. From the collar comes a thin chain, and that ends up in his mouth, attached to something he’s keeping in his lips. Kylo’s hands cross behind his back, and he looks up, expectantly.

Hux wants to laugh in delight, and he holds his hand out for the cuff. It’s made of linked chains itself, with a clasp to cinch to his wrist. He slips it onto himself, and then gives a tiny tug to the leash falling to Kylo’s neck. The length of it means it nearly hits the floor by Kylo’s knees: obviously more ceremonial than functional. 

“That’s a nice gift, pet.”

Kylo smiles sheepishly up at him. “I can get it remade, if it’s not—“

“I love it,” he says, and holds a hand out to cradle his face. “Have you been a good boy for me, all day?”

A nod. “I had this made, and I trained with Phasma’s latest squadron, and I read all the latest intel dossiers.”

He _has_ been busy. Hux is impressed, and he lets him know with a smile. “Good. As a reward, I’ve brought something home for you. As you’re not dressed for it, you can make me a cup of caf while I go fetch it.” 

Hux unhitches the chain from his wrist, and nods for Kylo to get to it. He opens the door, and brings in the small chest. It had taken some ingenuity to get, and it’s still nowhere near as full as Kylo’s wishlist would like, but there’s toys in there that will answer several of his requests.

He’d found nothing objectionable on Kylo’s list of desires. Some things that he was unsure of how they could possibly be enjoyed by _Kylo_ , but nothing that turned his stomach. He’s grateful for that, and he puts the small footlocker down in front of the couch, and then sits, waiting.

Kylo comes back with the mug, and nearly drops it when he sees the chest. His steps hurry, and he holds out the mug. Once it’s taken, he drops to kneel at the foot of the couch, holding up the tail end of the chain again. 

So obedient. Hux smiles, clipping them together again, and ruffles his bouncy hair. “You may look inside and take up to two toys for tonight, as you’ve been so well behaved.”

“Thank you, Master,” Kylo blurts, and dives for the box at once. 

Hux nurses his mug on his chest, feeling the heat seep into him. Watching Kylo’s wide-eyed excitement is reward enough for his work, but he’s sure he’s going to enjoy what comes next. Kylo’s hands are shaking through the various things, and there’s a soft whine of frustration.

“What is it?” Hux asks.

“I can’t pick _two_.”

“No?”

“...three is the... best and even then...” Kylo slumps, and looks guilty. 

“You can have three _if_ you make it worth my while, pet.”

Back up to fully erect from his slouch, and his eyes widen. “How?”

Hux tilts his head, and then drags his eyes over his body. It’s still as beautiful as ever, but maybe more so, now. Or... or he feels less guilt about enjoying it so brutally. “Can you dance?”

“I... don’t know?”

“Put something exotic on, and show me what that body is good for.” Hux wonders what three toys he can’t pick between, though. It has to be one hell of a mixed bag. “First, fetch me what it is you want. And I’ll toss each to the ground as you’ve earned it.”

Pink cheeks, and Kylo hands him first a long skein of red rope; then a long, switchy crop; and finally a long, translucent vibrator. That had taken _some_ procurement, but he was glad Kylo liked it so much, especially if he could then stimulate him without any pressure to perform. 

His pleasure slave checks his face for approval, and then goes over to the terminal to pull up a music stream and dim the lights. Hux nearly reprimands him for the latter, but he decides it is likely in-keeping with the tone, so he lets it slide. The music he picks is definitely exotic, because Hux can’t even identify the instruments in use. 

This is also when he learns that – whilst an excellent strategist, and charming conversationalist – _Kylo Ren can’t dance for love nor money_. Hux bites down on the inside of his cheek to keep the amusement from bubbling out, but Kylo’s body just... doesn’t know what it’s doing? He keeps wiggling his hips, making his cock bounce around far too much. Hands that veer between ‘unmarried old uncle’ and ‘very drunk and over-achieving aunt’. He should be sultry and seductive, but he has no clue at all. 

Hux pushes all three things to the floor.

“That’s not fair!” Kylo yelps.

“...didn’t you want to play with them?”

“You’re humouring me.”

“...Kylo... if you could see yourself...”

His slave crosses his arms over his chest. “I’m a good dancer.”

“...who told you that, your mother?”

Perhaps a bad line, because Kylo looks at the length of chain, obviously considering storming off. 

“...how about... you give me a sexy lapdance, instead?”

“You’ll lie and say it’s sexy and you won’t think it is.”

“Actually, I won’t. I’ll help you, if you need it.”

“Not like you even know what sexy is,” Kylo mutters, but it’s clear he’s just embarrassed, and not really aiming to offend. 

Hux pats his knee, and Kylo comes in closer.

“Sway for me... slower... slower... draw figure eights with your hips. Make like you’re already on my dick, and you’re trying to take it slow... _that’s_ better...”

The fiction has Kylo’s prick lifting a little, and he watches as the man pushes his hands into his own hair, chewing his lip in concentration. The story gives him escape, and his eyes are shut to live inside the fantasy. He mustn’t be too sore from last night, if he wants the vibrator in him. (Which Hux is going to have to clean, now.) Hands slide down his chest, thumbs over his nipples, and Hux growls. 

“Stop. I’m going to tie you up, and then I’m going to work that ass of yours until you beg for mercy.”

“ _Yes, Sir_.” Kylo’s hips give one last wriggle, and he tilts his head. “How should I stand, Sir?”

Hux unclips the chain for now, because it will just get in the way. He unties the skein, and finds the middle of the rope. “Arms out for the minute. I’ve got to... pull up a tutorial.”

Kylo’s brows lift.

“Do you think I’ve memorised every possible rope pattern?” Hux asks, a little huffily. “I need to make sure it’s right.”

And if he can deal with Kylo’s shambolic dancing, Kylo can surely deal with Hux checking some instructional material for this. He remembers the start, pushing the rope loop through the collar, then threading the dual strands through the loop to hitch it off. That’s easy enough, and so is the bit where he ties knots every fist-length down the front of his body. All the way down to his dick, where he isn’t comfortable enough tying a cock-ring of rope just yet, so he parts the threads and then ties loops around his upper thighs, instead. 

“Hold these,” he says, handing the strands over to check the next few steps. 

“You’re something else, you know,” Kylo says, affectionately. 

“Do you want me to practice on a dummy for several months?”

“No... I’m... it’s cute.”

Cute. His tying of Kylo up is cute. Huh. He steals a kiss from the side of his mouth. “I’ll challenge you to say that again, when I’m finished with you.”

Kylo beams, and Hux realises this... is their foreplay, isn’t it? Lightly mocking and sniping, and... yep. He wouldn’t have it any other way. Up go the ropes, pulled tight so Kylo nearly bends double. Woven around his chest, and then laced back and front like a corset that cinches him ever tighter. Around and around, but making sure his chest can still move, until he’s happy with his work. The tails get shored off, and then Hux paces around to admire the pale skin between the rope lines. 

“Beautiful,” he breathes. “Now: go to the bed, and bend over the edge.”

He sees Kylo’s expression shift quickly as he processes the commands, and he can see from the slight distance on his face that the constriction is affecting him. He walks with awkward care, wobbling and almost creaking when he bends over. Hux is going to need to be careful with that, not exerting him beyond his lung capacity. Another thud of protective care, and he walks behind him, stroking at his neck, nudging his feet apart. 

“You okay?”

Kylo nods.

“If you aren’t, tell me, and I’ll loosen the ropes. We don’t need to stop, just ease it off a little.”

Another nod. He’s more likely to ask for that if he knows it won’t be the end of the scene. Alright.

The crop is supposed to hurt a lot, so Hux whacks his own thigh first to get a feel for the impact and levels of sensation it will put into Kylo. Better to go in forewarned, after all. He swishes it through the air a few times, then starts to lightly drum over Kylo’s lifted rump and the tops of his thighs. He doesn’t stroke hard enough to sting straight off, getting him used to the touches, first. 

“How does that feel, boy?”

“G-good,” Kylo says, and his waist moves to shove his ass up higher in open invitation.

“Do you still feel where I was inside you?”

Nodding, and hands that grab the sheets. He wonders how hard his prick is, pushed into the sheets. 

“You think the toy will feel as good?”

“No, Master.”

“Good answer.” He swats down, then: hard. 

Hard enough that Kylo yelps and lifts one foot, nearly climbing onto the bed until he remembers not to. Hux strokes the switch over his sore ass, letting him calm down. After all, this is – probably? – the first time he’s been caned, and it’s Hux’s first time wielding one, too. 

“I... it’s okay,” Kylo says, going back to his stance. “Just... surprised me, Master.”

“Good surprise?”

He glances over his shoulder, his eyes almost black. His lips are red from biting, and he nods frantically. “Please. More?”

Hux beams, and starts again. He keeps the pressure mostly even, but lands the blows more often. The odd smack that rings through the air, then a dozen softer ones to follow it up. Kylo’s rump gets pink and scratchy, his skin reacting to the abuse. Hux wonders how much of it will remain, how much he’ll show in the morning, and he lands one – very, very, very – hard blow on one cheek, before he drops the switch and moves to lie flat-out over Kylo.

Who is rocking, moaning, and blissed out of his head. Hux feels good, too, bathed in this response. His cock is only minorly interested, but that’s fine. He rubs it against the hot, pink skin, feeling the throbbing warmth through his own pants. 

“You want to get fucked now, don’t you?”

Kylo whimpers a yes.

“Is that what you would touch yourself to, more than anything else?”

“Y-yes. You... fucking me... with things. Making me take it. C-calling me... sssssslutty...”

“What else?”

“...m-making me... suck you, even when you’re soft. Telling me... my fault you can’t... if I was better at it...”

Oops. Definitely a button, somewhere there. Hux files that away for future use, for them both. Though he’s not sure he’d stay soft for long, making Kylo swallow him like that. “And?”

“...thought... about...” Kylo pushes his face into the bed, and Hux grabs his hair. 

“About what?” He pulls the locks until Kylo’s whimpering, not letting up.

“Just... gentle. Sometimes. W-waking up and... making love, not... fucking... just...”

Hux grabs the now-clean vibrator, and turns it on, low. He rolls his weight to one hip, then puts the toy between Kylo’s legs. Stroking back and forth, between his cheeks, nudging at his balls. He uses it as hard as he can, there, directing the shockwaves wherever makes him whine and yelp. 

“You wanted to do it slowly?”

“Y-yes.”

“How?” 

“I... uh... kissing. Kissing, and... stroking... together. It wasn’t the – wasn’t who... where, but – but... being close, and... _fffffFFFFUCK_...”

Hux prods the tip of the toy to his slave’s full ballsac, his other hand grabbing lube and echoing what Kylo himself had done the night before. Opening his body, making it ready. He’s surprised by how much Kylo seems to enjoy being opened, because he’s howling almost non-stop. Low, wounded wails and his breathing starts to get a little reedy. Hux isn’t happy with how he sounds, so he pulls his fingers out and starts to circle his hole with the toy as his other starts unlacing the rope.

“N-no...”

“You need all the air you can get for what I’m about to do to you,” Hux corrects him.

“...s-sorry, Sir.”

“Focus on the sensations, instead,” he orders, slipping from hole to balls and back again. Kylo humps the toy, his cock visible when he lifts himself from the bed. He’s definitely hard, and Hux enjoys seeing it. 

Off and off until the corset of rope is flexible enough, and then he grabs one of the strands to hold Kylo still as he starts to push the toy properly in. It’s flared gently, smooth, and with more cycles and programs than Hux could ever understand. He flicks a switch to one that cycles through speed and intensity, and thrusts it with more force. He’s surprised by how much of it Kylo takes, and how reedy and whiny his voice gets.

“Tell me how much you like that,” Hux insists.

“I—ahh, oh... so good... not you... wish it was, I— _sorry, Sir_ , I didn’t m-mean to...”

Hux leans in, kissing at his neck. “It’s good that you prefer me. That way, if you ever get my dick, it’s a treat.”

Much to his surprise, Kylo howls and starts to come. Hux can see the spurts of it on the bed, and he redoubles his efforts with his ass. The toy goes in ever faster, twisting and pressing, forcing every last shudder from his body. Hux bends his wrist, pushing the flare against Kylo’s prostate. 

The scream is ungodly. Kylo’s body bucks, and he watches in surprise at the efforts he goes to in the heat of the moment. His feet claw at the ground, his hands at the bedding. He’s bouncing himself on the toy like it’s the only safe thing in the galaxy, and also like too much contact will burn him. 

Hux envies that freedom, even as the man collapses into nothing. Kylo’s body wrung dry, he slows the toy to almost nothing. Leaves it in him, as he unfastens the last of the rope. Leaves him naked over the side of their bed, and he slaps a hand to his ass, urging him upwards.

“Onto the bed. I’m tired.”

From the way his thighs try to hold the toy some more, Kylo will love his next gift. It’s not here yet, but soon. A series of plugs of different sizes, some with weights built in. He pulls Kylo up to his chest, and bundles around him, touching the now-still vibrator and nudging it lightly inside of him. 

“Thank you,” Kylo mumbles.

“You’ve got a lot to learn, but I can work on that.” Hux smacks his ass once more. “You ready to sleep?”

Exhausted nods, and Kylo kisses his throat. Hux feels a happiness, and runs his hand over his back. 

“Such a good slave,” he purrs, rocking him very lightly. “So good for me. Even if you can’t dance.”

Kylo snickers. “Maybe you should... show me how to?”

Hux doesn’t dance, either. But he’s not about to admit that aloud. “I’ll teach you to dance, if you teach me the Force.”

“...s’out there.” A hand wiggles through the air. “Connects... living... thingies. Life. Light. Dark. Control. Emotion. Floating thingies... done.”

Hux is beyond amused. “I’ll return the favour with my lesson, when you’re not falling asleep.

Actually, it might be nice to dance. Maybe Hux should start his own list, and put that on it. Hmm.... 


	4. Chapter 4

Hux stands in audience with the Supreme Leader, and keeps his hands neatly clasped behind his back. He looks up at the holo-projected face of a man he’s never met in person, and of whom he’s only recently heard the voice, let alone seen his battle-lined face.

“General Hux,” the voice rings, echoing through the high-vaulted room. 

Hux feels every foot of height turned into an inch. “Yes, Supreme Leader?”

“I have assigned to you one of my Knights of Ren.”

“Kylo, yes…”

The anger that flashes on the Leader’s face is both choking and terrifying. Hux stands firmer, but he feels his knees wanting to give underneath him and forces them to lock into position. 

“He is no longer a Knight,” Snoke growls. “He is disgraced.”

 _Some boon, to give me a disgrace_ , Hux thinks to himself. And then: _Plus, he works just great for me, you probably just didn’t know how to handle him_. A quick flick of a finger over the cuff he wears, making sure it’s still there. Kylo thinks it will keep the Leader from his thoughts, but a momentary escape attempt from his vital organs by way of his mouth makes him need the physical reassurance it’s still in place. Just… in case.

“My apologies, Supreme Leader.”

“I have assigned to you one of _my Knights_ : Daiwel. He will arrive shortly. He has my full authority.”

“…am I… still in command?”

“Yes.”

“But this… Daiwel Ren?”

“Acts as my proxy.”

So, in power in name only, Hux thinks. Wonderful. He’s going to have Snoke’s eyes all over him, and he wonders how much of this is because of the Force-dampening cuff. It could be paranoia, but he doubts it, somehow. “Thank you, Sir.”

“You have broken in my gift to you?”

He wondered when the question would come. “Yes, he was tricky at first, but I have him under my thumb now, Supreme Leader.”

“He will let you think that,” Snoke replies, his hands steepling before him. “He is a tricky one. You should be careful that _he_ does not control _you_.”

The message cuts out, and Hux… fumes.

***

“Kylo.”

“Hux.” 

Kylo is sitting on the couch with his bare feet tucked under him. When he’s left to his own devices, he covers up except for his feet. His lover blinks in worry up at him, no doubt knowing where he’s been.

“The Leader is sending one of – one of the Knights of Ren to… oversee me.”

“What?”

“He said they would act with his full authority, but that I would still be ‘in command’. Which basically means I’m being micro-managed.” The bitterness is hard to conceal.

“Who?”

“Daiwel.”

“Oh for the love of—“ Kylo throws his tablet across the room, clearly livid. 

Hux watches as his bedmate leaps to his feet, his hands coiled into furious balls. He paces up and down, his lips pulled back from his teeth in a primitive threat-display. 

“Of all the people! Daiwel! That slimy sack of shit is why I’m here anyway. _He_ wouldn’t stop talking about my former family. It’s probably why Snoke ordered me to kill my mother in the first damn place.”

Just as bad as – if not worse than – Hux had expected. Wonderful. “Well, he’s coming, soon. So any tips on how to manage him, or steer him out of my command structure…?”

“He’s a fuckwit. Any meeting you invite him to, he won’t want to attend. Any meeting you want to keep him from, he’ll gatecrash. If he thinks you’re using reverse psychology on him, he’ll just show up to everything, or demand **every meeting** gets rescheduled, just to fuck with you. And it will all be so _polite_ on the surface. He’s a nasty piece of shit and I want to re-arrange his teeth to lie somewhere in his lower intestine.”

Hux laughs, despite himself. “I’m sorry. I just… you have a way with words when you’re angry.”

Kylo doesn’t react to that. “He’s _awful_ , Hux. Not that any of them are lovely, but he’s a total… Rancor-jizz stain. Please let me horribly murder him for you. Snoke can execute me after, I’ll just—“

“ _No_.” Hux is surprised by his own vehemence, there, but… it’s not even worth joking about. 

“It was—“

“I’m not letting Snoke _near you_ again.” He walks over, and grabs for Kylo’s hands. “He didn’t deserve you.”

The fact that Kylo gets all melty with that pronouncement just proves it. Even non-sexually… the man has so very much to offer, and Snoke has lost it all. He tugs him into his chest, pulling those hands around him, and grabbing his waist. 

“What are we going to do?” Kylo whispers just above his ear.

“We’ll work it out.”

***

Daiwel Ren arrives aboard an Upsilon-class shuttle with a full honour guard. Which isn’t needed, because Hux has a full complement of troopers, and now he has supernumerary troopers. Which means he’s going to need to use some of the emergency bunks, and re-adjust the clothing and catering allowances.

So it’s a tiny inconvenience, but it’s still an inconvenience, and one Hux could have done without.

Daiwel strides down to the deck with a flourish of black. He’s covered from head to toe, with his eyes obscured by a visor. Hux had never seen Kylo in his ‘Knight’ uniform, so this is something of a surprise. 

“Where are my quarters?” is the first thing from his mechanically-altered mouth.

“Greetings, Lord Ren,” Hux insists on replying. “I am Gener—“

“I know who you are. Where are my quarters?”

This is even more rude than Kylo had prepared him for, so Hux fights to regain his composure. “Onboard the _Finalizer_ , we observe the protocol of the First Order.”

“That’s for _soldiers_ , and I am not one.” 

“Nevertheless, I am General Hux and this is—“

“Does the Leader know you like to hold up his work?”

Hux wants to spit blood, but this is not the time, nor the place. He’s being undermined in front of all of his best crew, and he knows the Knight is technically his ‘superior’, which means he’s pissing into the wind, and…

“I’ll have one of my—“

“You can show me.”

“I have an incredibly competent—“

“ _I’d like you to show me, General… Hooks?”_

“Hux.”

“I’d like you to show me. Unless you have something more pressing?”

He does, but he knows it won’t matter, so he strides off with the Knight in tow.

***

“I am going to kill him. And then I am going to bring him back to life, and then kill him all over again. And then I am going to—“

Kylo walks over to Hux, and pulls the coat from his shoulders. Hux is surprised by the large hands guiding him to a chair, and pushing him into it. They start to knead at his tension, not shushing his diatribe.

“He’s so rude! And – okay, so it’s not insubordinate, but a superior officer should acknowledge his inferiors, still! Even if he’s not part of the rank structure, it’s _polite_. It’s the _done thing_. He undermined my authority in front of everyone, and how does he expect me to perform, or obey, when he’s slapped me in the face in front of everyone?”

“He’s horrible, I told you. He was constantly trying to knock me down from the number one spot.”

“How did you stop yourself from airlocking him?”

“With extreme difficulty. I was… trying to keep our group strong and unified. It… evidently did not work.”

Hux reaches up to touch the hand on his shoulder with one of his own. His head cranes, and he looks up at his ‘slave’. “I think we need to have… a serious talk about this.”

He feels the flinch, and squeezes over the knuckles. 

“It’s… it’s… not an issue any more. I’m yours, aren’t I?” Kylo defelcts.

“The Leader hasn’t forgotten you exist.”

Now Kylo tries to walk away, and Hux turns, watching him stride to the far side of the room. They’ve been living inside of a bubble, for the past few months, acting like everything is fine. Denial is such a delicious word, after all.

“What did you do to deserve me?” Kylo asks, softly. “I wasn’t exactly willing, and I was far from trained. You do know I was a double-edged sword, right?”

“Yes, I’m aware of that. And no, I hadn’t done anything ‘wrong’ to my knowledge. I… got my progression through my military and strategic expertise. My father didn’t… think I was up to much, but I proved him wrong.”

“You must have done _something_.”

“Not to my knowledge… I… I thought I had done well, when he promoted me and gave me the _Finalizer_. Why would he do that, if he was also punishing me?”

“To prevent you getting ideas above your station, perhaps? Or to make you beg him to take me off your hands, so you would be even more indebted to him?” 

Hux considers that. “Is he really that underhanded?”

“Afraid so. You could do everything he wanted, and he’d still find a way to criticise you. The best you could hope for would be him to not be excessively pissed off with you. Most of the time…” Kylo startles, then, and his hand goes to his throat.

Hux recognises the gesture, his own fingers worrying at his cuff. Something sinks, in his gut. “Go on. You’re safe, here.”

“Am I? Do I know he’s not recording this _room_?”

“If he’s as you say, he would normally opt for direct, Force-based surveillance. Which is why, I suspect, we have our new guest.”

Kylo sinks onto the nearest seat, his head in his hands. “Whatever you did for him, it wasn’t enough. You were a failure, or at least… you weren’t a proud accomplishment. You let him down, and you did whatever you could to misdirect or minimise his anger. Any time you felt… any time you felt like you were being harshly treated… he would… he would tell you how he’d ‘freed’ you. Freed you from the lies, and the… cage the Jedi put you in.” 

“But he put you in a new cage, didn’t he?”

The fallen Knight’s hands are white fists, and Hux goes over to him. He holds his own hands out, and waits. When they don’t move, he gently puts his over Kylo’s.

“H-he… I- I c-can’t, Hux… don’t… don’t you know he’ll find out… I have to – to – make him happy with me again, I—“

Shit. He grabs the man by the back of the neck, even as he fights him off. Pulls his face to his hip, and accepts the clawing fingers at his waist. “Kylo… Kylo, you were _never_ going to please him.”

“I wasn’t good enough! That’s all! I was bad, Hux! I was a bad Jedi, and I was a b-b-bad K-knight, and—“ 

Hux grips tighter, and kneads over his nape. “He never _wanted_ you to succeed. It’s why he allowed such dissention. It’s why he unsettles people…”

The more he knows, the more he’s disgusted. He’s worked so hard for this organisation his whole life, to now find out the man at the top… to find he’s such a cruel, fickle, horrible figure? One who sows dissent and fear and self-loathing? 

Yes, leaders have to maintain control. They have to make decisions that make them unpopular at times, and they have to be prepared to take flak, but they _don’t_ need to make people’s lives a living nightmare, or prevent them from ever feeling unguardedly accomplished. It’s…

“I’m afraid,” Kylo says, against his belly. “Daiwel… he’s here to report back on us.”

“I know,” Hux replies, still stroking him reassuringly. “We’re going to be cleaner than clean, so he has nothing to say.”

“He’ll find ways.”

“I won’t let him,” Hux snaps, but the anger isn’t directed at Kylo.

It still makes him flinch again, and Hux wonders what in the fuck he’s signed up for. He almost wishes he’d never been given this commission, this ship, this man. _Almost_. 

But he won’t let Snoke win. Now it’s a matter of pride, and Hux has that in _droves_.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hux does some things a dominant should not do in this chapter. However, he realises and apologises. Just to forewarn you.

Daiwel is a monster. Hux has had to deal with inefficient superiors before, but they were nothing like this _thing_. This _thing_ that pretends not to know the rules and regulations, until one is in his favour and against you. He obstructs every. Step. Of. The. Way. Not so much that nothing gets done, and only in ways that make _Hux_ look bad.

Which is ridiculous, because what does he have to gain? He’s not a military man, he’s not a General. He can’t possibly want to take command, and it’s not as if he’s got a friend or family member he wants to put in Hux’s boots. He’s being petty _just for the sake of being petty_ and Hux is **not** amused.

It’s when he has Kylo naked, bent over the bed, arms and legs stretched as he takes his frustration out on his ass and thighs that he realises – well – _maybe he’s going a little too hard_. 

Kylo hasn’t complained, but Hux can see from the shaking in his body that he’s suffering. He’d _said_ he liked the sting of pain, but Hux hadn’t... been... focussing. Properly. There’s a network of welts over his ass that jump proud to attention, and a couple of blood bruises, and the anger is still high in his own blood.

But Kylo is just taking it, without complaint. Hux doesn’t know (and is ashamed to realise this) if Kylo is still enjoying himself or not. 

Shit.

“Kylo...”

“...s?”

“How are you feeling?”

“Mky.”

The words – if you can be charitable enough to call them that – are slurry and distant-sounding. He’s gone too far, hasn’t he? Hux puts down the switch, and sits on the bed. He unfastens the wrists, and watches them drop bonelessly down. 

There isn’t any fight left in Kylo, he’s gone somewhere else to cope with the blows. Hux shuffles awkwardly, moving to sit with his legs on either side of him, spread wide, pulling Kylo’s head onto one thigh. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, as he strokes at his hair.

A tiny thrash, a worried sound.

“I shouldn’t have hurt you so badly. I’m sorry.” Part of him is sick to his stomach. There’s no way Kylo found that pleasant, right? It wasn’t so much love-sport as... cathartic physical abuse for Hux. And now he feels like a monster.

“Nnnnnno! S’g’d! You... nnnneed...”

The fierce proclamation stings harder still. Poor Kylo, so ready to suffer for him, thinking Hux needs it. Maybe he did, but—

“Want... be good. Sorry... not... enough.”

Hux grabs the hair at the base of his skull, gently, but surely. “You were. So good. So very good for me, pet. Now let me be good for you.”

“J’s you...”

Hux has been so very bad to Kylo. He’d never wanted him in the first place, didn’t appreciate the offers of his body, didn’t reciprocate like he ‘should’, and hurt him. And yet, somehow, Kylo still found the few kindnesses Hux had offered him to be enough to earn his loyalty. Was it all situational? Was he simply bonding with Hux to survive? Kylo had been the one to suggest some of these more extreme sessions, and Hux wonders was he trying to offer in an attempt to satisfy Hux? Or...

“I need you,” Hux says, and leans to release him from the ankle restraints, pulling him up onto the bed, and making him lie flat-out on top of him.

Kylo is heavy, but Hux needs that, too. Needs the weight of him, and to hold his shoulders, and press their faces together.

“Need you, too,” Kylo slurs, dazed. 

“No, I mean... fuck. Kylo... you’re far too good to be someone’s body slave. Don’t you see? I don’t care what he thinks, I just... shit.” Hux can’t help himself, the tears wobble out from his eyes, and he’s rocking him from below. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just so annoyed...”

“S’okay. Want... to help. Would have said. If not.”

This place is poison. Maybe it’s the Knights, but Hux... doesn’t like the man he just was. Even if he’d taken out his aggression on a willing subject, he’d lost control over himself for a minute, and that was a minute too long. 

His hands continue to stroke, and he kisses Kylo’s face all over. He’s not sure if the man wants sex or not, now, and he doesn’t really know how to ask. He can’t feel anything pressing into him when he tries to rock up, but...

“Can... we just... hug?”

“Of course,” Hux says. “Are you comfortable?” 

“...crush you?”

“Can you manage mostly on your side?”

A nod. Hux adjusts them gently, pulling a pillow lower. He lies Kylo on his side, and pulls his head back onto his chest. He hooks the covers, and pulls them lightly over them both. He’s still dressed, but that’s not a problem. Kisses along his hairline. 

“Just want to make sure you’re happy,” Kylo says, his words getting a little more coherent. “Needed you... happy.”

“I am. With you, anyway.”

It’ll have to be enough. For now. 

***

In the morning, Hux is still feeling pretty crappy about what happened the night before. He’s woken multiple times, checked Kylo is still asleep, and then closed his eyes again. He feels worn thin, and this isn’t going to help him deal with Shithead Ren at all.

But he has a favour to return. Yes, Kylo is ostensibly his property. But by now he doesn’t feel like that... and it could be just his wishful thinking, but he really hopes not. 

Kylo did take one hell of a beating in his anger, and so he wants to show him his appreciation. He tugs the sheet down, and starts his lips in a trail over his belly, down to his thighs. He’s never used his mouth there, not really. He’s used his hand, and he’s fucked the other man, but his lips have rarely done more than bite and lick his chest and up.

At the touches, Kylo stirs. He’s on his back – the pain must have gone down now – and he blinks sleep out of his eyes. A warm, genuine smile greets him, and then his face goes wide in shock as Hux flickers just the very tip of his tongue over his sweat-salty shaft.

“H-hux?”

“I want to...”

“If this is because of— _ohhh_ – you don’t h-haaAAVe to!”

But those sounds are delicious. Kylo is vocal, though he tries to keep his noises down. His hands claw at the bedding, his eyes jammed shut. He looks... wrung out, and all Hux is doing is lick him gently. It sends an echoing warmth through him, but more an emotional one than a physical one. 

Hux curls a hand around the base of Kylo’s cock, and draws it over his lips. “Want to. You were so good for me. You deserve this.”

Another strangled noise, and Hux worries his tongue over the end. He remembers Kylo wishing he could do this to his own, flaccid dick, and he can see why the act might have some enjoyment for him. It’s warm, soft, and intimate. Even without the sexual element, it’s a nice place to be touched carefully, and Hux enjoys when Kylo strokes him, even when he’s not aroused by it. 

Kylo is aroused by it. Kylo seems to be aroused by Hux _breathing_ sometimes, which is a source of no end of amusement. Hux rubs the soft skin over his lips and wonders why he didn’t do this before? He feels closer to him, and the hands that pet at his hair and ears are soft and loving. 

“I’m not sure I want to swallow, so if you could warn me?” Hux asks. 

Kylo nods, his eyes blinking wide. “Yes. Yes, Sir.”

Hux licks him from the hand gripping his base up to the head, and down again. Rolls around under the fleshy helmet, and then wraps his lips around. He sucks gently, and starts to stroke the fist up to his mouth and back again. 

“Y-you can beat me again, if... if this is my reward,” Kylo jokes, a little weakly. 

Hux grins, and tries to make his mouth wetter. He swallows his saliva right over Kylo’s cock, and then pins it to his belly with one hand, licking the full sac below. It’s a bit too hairy for his liking, so he stops and goes back to his dick. One hand holds the very tip still, so he can wriggle up and down over the throbbing veins below the surface. 

Kylo moans, and his ass lifts from the bed. Hux slides his other hand into the small of his back, then wraps his mouth around the head and gently urges his slave to fuck his mouth. Kylo knows enough to thrust gently, and not to gag or choke him. His movements keep up for a while, then he starts to stammer. 

“S-soon, Hux... soon...”

Hux keeps sucking as long as he dares, hollowing his cheeks, and then he pulls off. “I’ll close my eyes. Come on my face... then you can lick me clean.”

“Holy...” Kylo’s hand goes to his shaft, and it’s only to save his eyes that he can’t watch Kylo’s face when he comes, spattering his closed lips, nose, cheeks. 

The noises are worth it, and when he’s sure he’s finished, Hux climbs up and pushes his face to Kylo’s mouth. A warm, greedy tongue laps over his face, and Hux opens his eyes when he’s sure he’s done enough. 

“Good?” Hux asks.

Kylo just squeaks, and nods rapidly.

“You’re such a good boy, you deserved a treat. Now... I think I like the idea of you opened up ready for me all day, in case you’re enough to get me up tonight. Even if you can’t, I think you will still enjoy it.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Empty yourself, clean yourself, then bring the toy and lube. I’m going to plug that ass of yours, and the thought of it will help me get through the day.”

***

It is lucky Hux has a reason to go back to his quarters that night, because Jizzstain Ren does his best to make him lose his temper. Hux is not prepared to let him get that control over him again, even though the man tries his hardest.

Hux isn’t sure if he’s coping, or just denying, but when he gets home he finds Kylo waiting for him. His slave has fallen asleep waiting for him (is it really that late?) so he sneaks up to where he’s lying on the bed. A brush of the backs of his knuckles up his spine, and Kylo wakes, and smiles.

“Master.”

The adoration on his face... that can’t be faked. No way. Hux bends, kissing the corner of his lips. “Are you still ready for me, Kylo?”

A drowsy nod, and he shimmies his hips. He’s naked on the bed, though he’d pulled the covers up to his waist. More shimmying, and the sheet walks down to show the flare of the plug at his entrance. 

“Waited all day, Sir. I’m clean, and open for you.”

“Think I’m going to take you slowly. Put a pillow under your stomach, I want to lie on top of you.”

Kylo does as he’s asked, and Hux strips slowly. He’s not all the way hard, not yet, but the knowledge that Kylo fell asleep waiting for him, and wanted him all day... he smiles, and lies across his back. Their hands meet, and Hux’s kisses to his neck make Kylo moan in wounded delight. 

“Missed you,” Kylo whispers. “You were gone so long.”

“I’m sorry. It was work.” He doesn’t want to talk work, not now. It would kill any pleasant sensation dead. 

“Still missed you. I get to leave less, now.”

Since... Daiwel.  It’s strategic, but... “I’m sorry. We can try to work something out. Tomorrow?”

Kylo nods, and begs for kisses. Hux gives them, as he grinds himself along the ex-Knight’s ass. The pleasure mounts, and he reaches for the plug to push it deeper, twist, and almost pull it out. The soft feel, and the slick sensation makes his cock twitch harder, and he tugs the toy out and shoves it to one side. With a little effort, he guides his half-hard cock inside, and then they slowly roll together, working his dick to full strength.

More soft noises, and Hux sinks his teeth into Kylo’s ear. The pleasure-pained gasp urges his speed to mount, and they couple with more force as his arousal slowly spirals. “Such a good boy for me, aren’t you? So ready to please me.”

Kylo nods, and pushes his face into the mattress, keening at the shallow fucking. Mostly Hux isn’t even sliding in and out, he’s just rolling their hips together where he’s swelling inside of him. Soon the need will overtake him, but not straight off.

“Just... want to make you happy,” Kylo mumbles. “Only one... ever cared ab-about me... you... you don’t even... don’t even need me for sex...”

Hux hadn’t thought of it like that. If he _had_ been as sexually forward as Kylo likely expected, then this relationship _might_ have been a little less healthy, or at least less reliable to begin with. He’d accepted him into his life to appease the Leader, but he’d accepted him into his _bed_ because he’d trusted him, and appreciated his company. He beams, and starts to slam a little harder.

“You’re so good for me, Kylo. So good. So loving. So obedient. You never were bad, were you? You never were, people just made you think you were.”

A tiny – freaked-out – bleat, and Kylo nearly bucks him off. Hux has to grab his hips to stay on top, confused.

“I’m – Hux, I’m—“

“You’re _not bad_ , Kylo. You’re so very, very, _very_ good. You’re good, and I love you.” He means it, and he means it even more when he feels the seismic shift around and below him. 

How long have people been telling him otherwise? Destroying his whole sense of accomplishment – of _self_? How long have they been trammelling him down? 

And would Hux be next in line? From favoured son (hah) to outcast? Would he be clapped in chains and thrown at the next poster boy (or girl) as a spoil of war? 

His hands on Kylo’s clench, and he bounces his whole weight into him, riding his ass into the bedding below. His lips and teeth find the collar, the one that keeps him from Snoke, and gifts him to Hux. The one that keeps him free, and he licks below to the skin that doesn’t see light. 

Kylo – to his surprise – comes from that gesture. His body clenches and judders, and Hux is startled almost to his own completion. He can’t quite come at the same time, but he hurries his own movements up to keep pace, and then the smack of his cock is enough, and his own orgasm thunders through his ears, the wash of it filling his lover up inside. He grunts and lets go of the collar to kiss just above it.

“I’ll keep you safe. I mean that, Kylo. You mean everything to me.”

“I’ll let you down,” Kylo whispers.

“You haven’t so far.”

“But I _will_.”

“Not so much that I’ll give up on you. Whatever happens... we work through it. You’re who I want. _You_. Don’t you want the same?”

“More than you could ever know.”

Hux swallows. “I wish you didn’t have to wear that collar. Then you could look inside me, and know I mean it. Know I mean it, so very much. You... are perfect for me. Even with your flaws.”

“Even though I’m... not even able to use the Force?”

“Have I needed you to use it all the time we’ve known one another? Even once?”

A tiny, tiny headshake.

“Kylo... I’m serious. You’re a kind, loving, generous soul. You make mistakes, but we all do. You are _not_ what he made you think you are. And I will _not_ allow him to make you feel that way again. You are _wanted_.”

Under him, the man nearly snaps in two. Hux tightens around him fiercely, dropping a hundred little kisses to his neck and ears. The man is a _wreck_ , just from kindness alone, and this – _fuck_ – but this place... it’s so fucking toxic. It poisons everyone, and everything, and for the first time since being so small he doesn’t remember _when_? Hux...

Wants to run away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will have a warning also. Things are about to get bad, but in a 'they will get better eventually' way and 'dc believes in happy endings' way. So do not lose hope.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning: Rape threat by third party. Graphic violence. This is not a happy chapter, but please trust me.

“So... when are you going to show me your broken-in slave, Hux?”

Hux would like to show Daiwel Ren the outside of an airlock, but that’s neither here nor there. “He’s not for public consumption,” he says, instead.

“Still... I’m dubious. If the Leader couldn’t whip him into shape, how could you?”

“Maybe you should ask me for lessons, or ask the Leader why he trusted me with such an important task?” Hux snipes in return. 

“Then I _must_ see what you’ve done with him.”

Hux doesn’t reply. At all. He just smiles a smile that doesn’t even really reach his lips, let alone his eyes. He stands: an unmovable force in front of an irresistible power. 

“I’ll come by tonight.”

“I am rather busy.”

“Nonsense. You can take a night off... I’m sure no one will even really notice,” Daiwel says, and leaves.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

***

“...and we can’t just lock the door?”

“Not without incurring the Leader’s wrath, I’m sure. And making it worse for _both_ of us...”

Kylo looks terrified. Genuinely terrified. Not in an ‘I’m going to get slapped’ way, but in something much deeper, that Hux is supposed to be protecting him from. He’s failing. Abysmally.

“What do you need me to do?” Kylo asks. “He’ll... he’ll want me to wait on him, won’t he? He’ll—“

“I’ll make sure you’re never in the room alone with him, Kylo.”

“If... if he hurts me, please... don’t give him the excuse to hurt you, too. If... if he can somehow prove you’re unworthy of me, or... any reason... They’ll take me from you.”

Hux hadn’t considered that, or maybe he had and refused to engage with it. He clutches harder at Kylo’s upper arms, fighting a sudden wave of disgust. “No one is taking you from me.”

Now he’s got him, Hux can’t imagine life without him. He’d never thought he wanted a companion, let alone love, and this ridiculous man went and proved everything wrong.

“Let him, Hux. Let him. He’ll try to provoke you. Don’t give him a reason to win.”

There is no way out of this – politically speaking – that Hux can see. Daiwel has Snoke’s authority, and Snoke’s authority is absolute, and that’s that. He has to sway when the breeze blows, but it galls him so horribly that he’s not even secure on his own ship, in his own rooms, with his own lover. He can see how Kylo’s had to adapt to survive: how this flinch reaction, and this ‘do not give them a reason’ avoidance has grown organically. Kylo acts like he does because it’s been the only way to preserve himself. 

All that progress they’d made... away from outright surly arrogance to a peaceful and mutually satisfying co-existence... now he sees a man cringing and cowed. It’s not right. It’s not right at all. Even if he disobeyed a direct order – of _matricide_ no less – to be punished by being given away as if he were an animal... There are some things that are just impossible to accept.

“Please promise me,” Kylo begs. “Don’t let him see you upset. If he kicks me, if he rips my name to shreds... I’m your property, no more. Act as if you’re outraged for a droid, or a shuttle. Don’t... don’t let him see you love me.”

Which Hux _does._ Concealing that is going to be almost impossible, but if it keeps him safe, what choice does he have? 

“You are worth ten of him. Ten thousand,” Hux reassures him. “I would take you, without the Force, over an army of Daiwel Ren.”

“There’s only six,” Kylo replies. “I mean, and Snoke.”

“Six too many,” Hux mutters.

***

Daiwel arrives, and snipes the moment the door opens. “You have a slave, don’t you?”

“Yes, and I wished to greet you as my equal,” Hux replies. Even though both men clearly think the other is inferior, he’ll still concede this far in public. For political reasons. 

“No wonder... Anyway.” Daiwel breezes in, and his eyes flit to Kylo.

Kylo, who is wearing simple, loose-fitting pants, and a shirt that covers from throat to wrists to waist. He’s kneeling beside where Hux likes to sit, with his hands palm-up on his knees. His eyes bore a hole into the wall, refusing to look up.

Hux can’t get over there quickly enough to prevent Daiwel walking straight over and grabbing Kylo’s jaw, dragging his head upwards. The General watches as the Knight tries to force eye-contact, and watches as Kylo refuses point-blank.

“How often do you beat him?”

Calm. Breathe. Don’t rise to it. “That’s private.”

“I could make you tell me...”

Hux sits down, and clicks his head to one side to summon Kylo closer. When he tries to obey, though, Daiwel grabs Kylo’s hair and prevents him from moving. There’s a tiny hissy breath of pain, but no more from Kylo.

“Lord Ren, that is _my_ slave,” Hux snaps.

“And yet, it isn’t. He’s merely a temporary loan, remember? You don’t get to keep him forever, and you’ve already gone soft...” Daiwel pulls that hair, making Kylo tilt his head back in pain. “So maybe the payment is overdue.”

Hux wants to smack him. _No one_ hurts his Kylo, other than him. And even then, only because Kylo enjoys it when _he_ does it.

Kylo makes the smallest noise of discomfort Hux has ever heard, and then opens his mouth at the harder tugs, his eyes watering. His teeth clamp audibly shut as he fights to restrain his discomfort.

“He’s mine. Let. Go. Of. Him.” Hux can feel the weight of his blaster at his hip, and his fingers burn with the need to grab it. He can’t stand to see Kylo in such distress, being so disgraced and disrespected.

Daiwel lets go of Kylo’s hair, but then back-hands him across the jaw so hard that the man nearly topples, and brings his hands up to his mouth. He’s still not making a noise, but Hux can see the outright rage on his face when he turns it away from Daiwel.

“I thought you’d broken him?” Daiwel taunts. “He should thank me for that.”

Hux can’t take it any more, and he stands. “Do not touch him again or I will shoot you and explain to the Leader that you are unfit to even carry the name of Ren.”

All of a sudden, a wave of air smacks him in the chest, sending him flying backwards. Hux is powerless to resist it, and he realises that whilst Daiwel can’t read his _mind_ , he still has the Force. He can affect things that aren’t Hux, like the air. Which is what’s holding him immobilised to the bulkhead, his eyes nearly popping from his skull in horror.

“I think I should show you how you really break a slave in, don’t you?” Daiwel kicks Kylo in the flank, right under the ribs. Again. Again. “I don’t trust his mouth, so I think I’ll fill that with a boot while I use him. If you’ve trained him well, he’ll be ready and open all day long.”

No. No. He’s... he’s not going to rape him. He’s not. Hux suddenly realises why Kylo had been so adamant about him not rising to the bait, and he wishes he’d accepted a few slaps and cuffs. Daiwel wants to... wants to use Kylo, and Hux can’t get away from where he’s pinned. He wants to claw the man’s face off, bite chunks out of him and spit them to the floor. The physical insult is bad enough, but to – even if he was a slave – which – which Hux...

This is not happening. Except it is. He can’t... he can’t protect him, and he’s going to be made to watch. Going to have to watch Kylo utterly subjugated and abused, and he can’t live with that.

“Don’t,” he whispers. “If you want someone... use me, not him.” 

“Maybe I will, after him. You seem to be of the right mentality to be a slave. No real leader. No real balls.”

Hux can’t think. His mind just keeps stopping in its tracks, and he’s unable to work out how to beg, plead, or argue his way out because he can’t even say ‘no’, now. He’s so very, very sorry and this is all his fault for not just... what? Doing whatever impossible thing they wanted of him? 

What _do_ they want? Is this what the Leader truly believes in, or does he simply not care? Was this all a horrible trick, a test of his mettle or a mind game? Does he want all of his command structure to be this evil, or does he enjoy building people up to destroy them to nothing?

Hux is still reeling so he doesn’t see the movement until it’s almost too late. One moment he’s stuck in the same second on a loop, the world getting darker around the edges and more distant... and the next the room is bathed in red light, and Daiwel Ren is looking down at the blade that penetrates him from behind, cauterising where it cuts clean through. 

Kylo – Forceless and beaten – has stolen it, and pushed it through Daiwel before he even noticed it was gone. 

Daiwel’s expression wavers, and then the red is gone, and he drops to his knees. His face goes blank, and Hux doesn’t know if he’s even still alive or not. If he is, it won’t be for long. Kneeling. Sliced through.

Leaving Kylo standing behind, holding an unlit saber in two shaking hands, looking paler than Hux ever remembers seeing him before. 

“The Leader will know,” Kylo says. His voice half detached, half... bordering on hysteria.

The pressure on Hux’s chest goes, and he watches the Knight flop lifelessly to the ground. Gone, now. For a long moment he can’t react, and then he realises he _has_ to, much as Kylo did. Kylo did the hard bit, so he does the next.

Hux paces very carefully closer to Kylo, reaching out to touch his hand. His body-language measured, trying to keep him from freaking out any further. “He was going to hurt you.”

“He was going to hurt _you_ ,” Kylo corrects him. “I could have taken it, but not... not you.”

Hux nearly laughs, because he’d thought the self-same thing. Of course he didn’t want to be used, but it would have been better than to watch it happen to Kylo. He’d have let the man – let him... do unspeakable things, just to save him. 

And now they have to run. There’s no way around this, is there? They just killed the Leader’s Right Hand Man, and they have to run. 

Not that Hux even _wants_ to stay, not now. He should never have been put in this situation, neither of them should have. This isn’t right. Order or not, peace or not, there’s no point in ‘peace’ or ‘command’ or ‘orders’ if the core of your whole world is rotten.

“Grab everything you can,” Hux says.

“But...”

“If you want to live, listen to me. We have to _go_.”

Kylo nods, and slides the saber hilt into his pants. He barks at him to grab the essentials, and he’s working three steps ahead as they walk with long strides to the cargo bay hold. They need a ship with hyperspace capabilities, and _now_. 


	7. Chapter 7

Hux has never done something as impulsive and unplanned in his whole life, and he’s lived multiple decades quite successfully so far. Admittedly the _most_ impulsive part was down to Kylo, but he’d carried right on with it, _and_ been glad of it.

Daiwel Ren is dead in Hux’s room, and no one on the ship knows this fact, yet. That’s why they can walk right down to the cargo bay hold to grab one of the small freighters with a hyperdrive. The majority of the ships with weapons _don’t_ have hyperdrives (because the Order doesn’t want to risk her men jumping away in a fight, and never coming back), so they’re going to have to get something with legs, and later look for claws and a shell. 

If they make it out of here alive.

Kylo’s carrying a small bag of essentials, and Hux strides ahead of him so it looks official. He has to fight his legs into a slower pace, because if they run? It will give the game away. This has to look normal, and he has to maintain the facade that they are the same as they were yesterday: loyal servants to the First Order. 

They get into the cargo bay before anything looks untoward. 

Then there’s glances, and Kylo hisses: “They _know_.”

“Right. Get the ship that looks like it hasn’t been emptied, or dispatched. We’re going to need to leave yesterday.”

Kylo nods, shoulders the bag, and skulks around. Hux stands, eyeing the launch control and the milling staff. The ones on the deck don’t look too suspicious, but the ones above... yep. They’re clearly receiving orders, and that means they have to run.

Hux hears the call from Kylo, and walks straight to the ship.

“Audit inspection, everyone out,” he barks. 

Confused, pilots and troopers exit, and Kylo slams the back of the ship shut. They head to the small cockpit, and Hux slips into the pilot’s seat.

“Can you program to go to somewhere quick, and we jump again from there?” Hux asks, running through the pre-flight checks out of habit more than anything else. His hands and eyes rove quickly, and then the engine’s up and they’re hurtling to the gap into the vastness of space.

“I’m... a little rusty, but...”

“Now is a good time to unrust, Kylo.”

“I’m trying!”

Hux knows he’s panicking, too, and so he doesn’t mind the snap. He feels the rocking as something hits the ship, and he punches the impulse engines harder, straining them towards a rapidly-closing hangar bay door.

“Hux...”

“I see it, I see it...”

“Hux... _look out_...”

Something sends the ship hurtling on an axis, and Hux’s neck cricks, whiplashing hard as they fly sideways on out of the hangar. He skirts the outside of the _Finalizer_ , dodging weapons fire and ignoring the terrifying beeps of damage reports flashing all over the HUD.

“Now, Kylo?”

“I’m not sure it’s—“

“ _Do it, or we die_.”

Kylo punches it, and the sky suddenly goes white-then-streaked. 

And now they have to deal with the fact the ship is _literally falling apart_.

“It’s too damaged,” Kylo says. “That’s what I was trying to tell you. We had one jump, and that was a maybe, but two...”

Shit. “Where did you send us?”

“I don’t know. I went through the previous jumps. So somewhere Order-friendly, but that’s all I know.”

“We need to patch this ship together. Do you... do you know much about ship repair?”

“More than you might think,” Kylo replies.

Right. Because of his... past. “Let’s get it at least so it won’t actively kill us, then we can think about our options.”

***

Kylo turns out to be really very handy at fixing things, but even so there’s only so much he can do while they’re _in_ hyperspace, and they’re working with the bare minimum of supplies. Hux hadn’t thought this far ahead, and it’s easier to just focus on patching holes than it is their sudden and unexpected desertion. 

He sits on his ass as he hands tools to him, and tries not to freak out. The whole of his world has fallen into nothing. Into the inside of this cargo ship, and no more.

Suddenly, Kylo just... freezes.

“What?” Hux asks.

“I’m... sorry.”

“What’s happened?”

Hux is speaking to the back of Kylo’s head, as he won’t come out of the panel he’s working in. 

“This. Daiwel. I didn’t... mean to ruin your life.”

Hux stares for a moment, then tugs at Kylo’s shoulder. “You didn’t. If... if that’s what the Order really thinks? That... it’s fine to just force someone into sex?”

“That’s probably the least of their problems,” Kylo mutters.

“Well, I knew there were _some_ flaws, but frankly, rape is not a joke.”

“Neither is mass-genocide,” Kylo replies. “Or mindless killing. Killing in self-defence is one thing, or...” He drops his head further. “Forget it.”

“No, I don’t think I will. Kylo, I’ll agree no organisation is perfect, but I really thought I was working for galactic peace. Isn’t that why you joined up with the Leader?”

“No.”

“I’m beginning to think we were part of two entirely different organisations,” Hux mutters. 

Kylo’s tone is wry, but oh-so world-weary. “What gave that away?”

“The part where Snoke thinks it’s an adequate punishment to send someone to be used sexually against their will, and then sends someone to repeat the act. The part where I was working towards an organised galaxy, and you...?”

“I just... wanted control.”

“Control?”

“Of my powers.” Kylo pulls out, obviously finished. He sits, cross-legged, and still won’t look up.

“Kylo. We’re now on the run after murdering the Leader’s Amanuensis. I think we should probably talk about this seriously, because – well – I literally just... ran away from my life’s goal and dream, as of every day before I met you. Not to make a big deal of it, but...”

Eyes shut, voice a strange monotone, Kylo explains. “He offered me knowledge. Knowledge of the Force. He told me he’d help me bend it to my will, so I no longer... felt out of control. He told me I was Dark. Told me I could never be Light, because I _felt_ too much. Told me they’d beat my emotion out of me, or kill me trying. That... that... they didn’t want me...”

“Your family?”

Kylo nods. “My mother couldn’t... help me, so she sent me away to my uncle. I felt... I felt like I wasn’t wanted any more. My father never knew what to do with me, was always afraid of my powers...”

“Kylo. How... how did this happen?”

“He would speak to me, inside my head. He was always there. I had no rest, and I thought it was because I was broken, or bad. And I just wanted it to stop. He said I was special, he—“

Groomed him. Clearly. Hux knows when Kylo switched sides, and he wasn’t old enough to be legally considered an adult. “And when you came over?”

“It still hurt, but I no longer needed to keep my temper, or try to maintain control. He showed me the Dark Side, but... it still hurt.” His head drops. “Wherever I go... the only freedom I’ve ever had was when he gave me to you. Then it was just my body I didn’t own, but my mind was mine again.”

For long moments, Hux doesn’t know what to say. “I always was brought up to believe the Republic was... flawed. That so many voices meant it was a bureaucratic nightmare.”

“It is,” Kylo admits. “But the many voices just make it inefficient, which means any one – single person – who wants to cause havoc, or mayhem... they’re hobbled.”

“So you’re saying the inefficiency is a _safety measure_?”

“In part. Stops a quick, knee-jerk reaction. You dumb it down to the lowest common denominator, so the ‘yes’ comes from enough names. So you don’t get the highs, but you also don’t get the lows. Better to have a hundred average people, than risk the problem of _one_ terrible one.”

“Meaning it’s just _shit_ but _marginally less shit than someone utterly evil_?”

“I left politics when I was fifteen, Hux.”

“But you’ve seen both sides. You... _know_ things.”

“Yes. I know it all sucks and I want it to go away. Do I want Snoke ruling the galaxy? Not really, but what choice did I have? He’d just climb up into my head again if I ever rebelled.”

“Until now.”

“Until now.”

“Now... what do we do?” Hux asks.

Kylo smiles, just slightly. “You’re the Master, remember?”

“Pretty sure when we went on the run that any and all previous ownership was scrapped. Don’t think I can claim a prize given by the Supreme Leader after I’ve run.”

Kylo fiddles with a spanner, nervously. “What about... one that offers itself, freely?”

“I could certainly do that, as a private citizen.” A weird little tangle of sensation, and he slides one foot to connect with Kylo’s. “We have no money. No... anything, really. Barely even a ship.”

“We’ve got each other. And a few blasters, and a lightsaber.”

Hux bites his lip. “I’ve... not got a family to run to. My entire life was the Order. I’ve got _skills_ , and we could make some sort of life for ourselves...”

“...but.”

“But. And you can say ‘no’.”

“You want to go to my family for help?”

“Only if you want to. We can wait, if you need to make up your mind, but we need to get away from the Core and from First Order worlds if we’re going to make a run for it.”

“You think they’ll even want to see me?”

“Honestly, I’ve never met them. I don’t know if they were like you remember them, or if Snoke twisted your life to suit his means. Having seen what he and Daiwel are capable of, I’d strongly suspect that.”

Kylo clasps the tool in both hands, turning it over and over between fingers and palms. “What if they try to arrest us?”

“For _defecting_?”

“For everything we did before!”

Hux looks down. “We have intel we can offer. The sooner we go, the more relevant it is. If... if they offer us house arrest, together, in exchange for what we’ll provide? Would... would you hate being caged like that?”

“With you... I think I could be caged anywhere and be happier than utterly free on my own.”

Hux smiles. “Alright. If you can face it... we’ll see what they offer us. Do you know how to contact them?”

Kylo nods. 

“Come on. Let’s see what they have to say.”


	8. Chapter 8

The comm call is difficult. After they connect, the Resistance soldier on the other side is alarmed. “What?”

“I said: get General Organa. This is her _son_.”

The soldier runs off, and it’s long moments of awkward hand-wringing before anyone is visible. Hux tries to remember that the woman is probably very busy, and also likely shocked at the call, not that the delay is untoward in any way.

“Ben?” The woman who appears looks older than the holo-records Hux has seen, though this does make sense. Her face is concerned, and has so many echoes of Kylo’s face that he feels strange looking at it.

“It’s Kylo, now, Mom.”

“You... is that who I think it is, with you?”

“Ge—uh, former-General Hux,” Hux announces. “We’d like to request political asylum. We have intelligence to trade for our safety.”

“B—Kylo... you want to come home?”

Kylo’s eyes slide away from the holo of his mother. “I have to. I killed one of the Knights of Ren. Snoke would have me executed for this.”

“You know we’ve always been ready to accept you back here. I’m going to need to meet you at a neutral location, though. In case you’ve been followed, or...”

In case they aren’t really defecting, though it would be one hell of a gambit to send both Kylo and a General.  Hux understands the protocol. “We have a minor technical problem, however. We had to flee in whatever ship we could. Our ship is damaged, and we’ll need to be met when we leave hyperspace, as I’m not sure we can make a second jump.”

“Alright. You do realise I’ll need to send an armed response to collect you?”

“We understand,” Hux agrees. 

Her attention goes back to her son. “If... I hope you’re sincere about this. You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to hear your voice.”

Kylo, on the other hand, does not seem so pleased. He just mumbles into his chest, and curls up tighter. “Okay.”

“Send me the co-ordinates, and what ship to expect. I’ll be there in person.”

“Transmitting now,” Hux replies, sending the data file across. “We’ll see you in a few hours, General.”

“We will.”

The line cuts, and Hux turns to Kylo. The man looks like he’s gone into shock: his skin an unhealthy pale, his lips sucked into his mouth. There’s a waver in his stance that looks dangerous, and his head is dropped into unhappy submission. Everything about him screams _no_.

“Kylo...”

“Hux... she thinks I’m...”

He puts his hand on his shoulder, stroking up and down his arm. “She thinks you’re her son, and you still are.”

“She thinks I’m – _him_ though.”

Hux sucks his lip in. “I don’t understand.” He is still her son, even if he left.

“ _Ben_ ,” Kylo explains. 

Oh. That was the name she called him. Hux had known (they all had known, or all the ranking officers, anyway) that Kylo Ren had once been an Organa, a Solo, and a Skywalker in one. He combined two bloodlines and an adoptive heritage that defeated an Empire. He came from Rebel stock, and Imperial stock. Smugglers, Jedi, Sith, Senators. 

In comparison, Hux’s own heritage is hardly impressive. 

But Ben; that wasn’t a name they’d known. Only the surname, and that was never spoken. 

“Did _you_ change your name?”

“I was told I had to. I... was told I could never speak my old name again.”

“Do you... want to? Use it, I mean?”

“It’s... no. I don’t think so. I don’t know. I thought I’d be there forever. I don’t know who I am, now. But I’ve been Kylo for at least as long as I was... the other person. And that name... it feels like a child, to me. Not like it’s who I really am.”

“If we ask her never to use that name, will it help?”

“She – Hux, she still thinks I’m a _teenager_. She... she wants to go back to when I was just—“

“Hey. _Hey_. You don’t know what she wants. You don’t know what’s going on in her head. You can control this. _We_ can control this. I can be the one to negotiate: I can set what can, and can’t be discussed. I can be there, as a safety net for you. You don’t ever need to see her without me there, unless you want to.”

“...are... you sure?”

“Kylo, I just ran right into the enemy’s arms for you. I think a little thing like chaperoning you around your family can be considered a definitive ‘yes’.”

“You... I’m so sorry I did this to you.”

“Did this to me? I was the one provoking the Knight after you warned me not to. And I’m pretty sure at any point I could have changed my mind, but I didn’t. Because I _love_ you. Haven’t you got that through your thick skull yet?” He ruffles his hair affectionately, trying to lessen the harshness of his words.

“But you had a ship. You... didn’t even _want_ me.”

“No, I didn’t, but a man is entitled to change his opinion, you know. When the facts become clear.”

“And when you grow to resent me?”

“I’m not going to.”

Kylo curls up tighter. “ _They_ did.”

“Did they?”

“Mom sent me _away_ because she couldn’t cope. Dad just kept thinking how he didn’t want to deal with a teenage Darth Vader. _They_ resented me.” 

“And if they did, they were idiots who didn’t deserve you. But _I_ won’t be giving up on you. We’re a couple, now, and that means we share in each other’s fortune, and lives.” 

“Even though I’m just your slave?”

“There is no ‘just’ about it. Yes, you’re my slave, but you’re – that’s...”

Hux doesn’t know how to word what he wants to say, so he hesitates a moment longer before: “Would it help if I freed you? I mean, formally? I... tried to do that once, and you... you kept the collar on.”

“I kept the collar on because it kept me safe, yes, but I also kept it on because... I wanted to stay with you.”

“I don’t understand. What... what do you want? You say you want to stay, but then you say you’re ‘just’ my slave as if it’s something bad?”

“Can’t I _want_ to belong to you? I... thought I made _that_ clear. I _choose_ it.”

“So why do you think I’d want to treat you any less than I did before? Your submission to me is a genuine gift, Kylo. We can make it clear it’s just a ‘bedroom’ thing, if you prefer? Because I wouldn’t take away real decisions from you, not unless you wanted me to.”

“So... still your slave, but _literally_ your bed-slave. With and without sex?”

Hux nods. “And in all else, equal. You’re not a commodity, not to me.”

Kylo grabs him in a fierce hug. “What did I do that I got you?”

“Refused to kill the woman who is about to welcome you home,” Hux reminds him. “So. Not your worst hour, all things considered.”

***

When they arrive, they know there is only a matter of minutes before the Order’s advance party arrives. They’ll likely (if they know their contingency plans well enough, and can function without Hux there to lead them) send someone to all their possible destinations. Though as Kylo and he had a headstart, there’s hopefully only the Resistance ships there to greet them.

That’s what group Hux _assumes_ the small collection of starfighters and one larger ship are aligned to, anyway. The lead ship hails them, and moves to align and dock with their little shuttlecraft.

Hux grabs half the bags, and Kylo the other half. Two armed men meet them, standing on the other side of the docking rings. Hux nods lightly in greeting. “We’re armed, but not about to shoot.”

“Put your weapons in the bags,” the soldier says. “Then put the bags down and put your hands in front of you.”

Kylo looks across, and Hux nods. He puts the blaster down, and then Kylo unclips the saber from his belt. They both stand as instructed, and allow their wrists to be cuffed in front of them. 

“You should get us away soon, because the Order will be looking for us,” Hux says. “As quickly as you can.”

“Please don’t separate us,” Kylo asks. 

“The General will decide. Go ahead of us,” the soldier says, and hurries them into the next ship.

***

They aren’t in the same cell, but they are in neighbouring ones, which will have to do. Hux sits on the cot, stroking his hands over his knees. It’s not long before the woman comes down, her face more lined than it had seemed on the holo. She looks at Hux, but goes to stand in front of Kylo’s cell.

“General,” Hux calls out, “...it would be appreciated if you put me in the same cell as Kylo.”

“Do you want that, Kylo?” 

“Yes.”

She pauses, her eyes going out of focus. “You feel... different. Both of you.” 

It takes a moment for him to remember that Kylo inherited his Force abilities from her. Hux lifts his arm, showing the cuff around his wrist. “We’re both dampened, it’s how we know Snoke can’t find us.”

Her eyes go wide. “You have the Force, too?”

“No. But it means he cannot – could not – read my mind.”

Leia nods. “Alright. I’ll put you together.” 

She opens up Kylo’s door, and he walks right past her to stand in front of Hux’s. He sees the disappointment on her face, but then she opens the door and Kylo launches in for a hug from Hux. 

“I suppose that means I need to consider you... family?” she asks.

“He’s my partner, yes,” Kylo says, from inside Hux’s arms. “He saved me.”

“Well, actually, he saved _me_ from one of the Knights. So it was a team effort.”

Leia waits for a moment, and Kylo pulls back from Hux’s arms to sit beside him. He grasps Hux’s hand, and Hux squeezes it reassuringly. 

“What... happened?” she asks.

“Where would you like us to start?” Hux asks. “Your son was Snoke’s favoured Knight, until he was ordered to kill you and refused. He was then given to me.”

Oh, yes, the second part of that sounds worse.

“Given to you.” Her tone is not a happy tone.

“You’re missing the part where he refused an order to kill you, putting him out of favour,” Hux rejoints, a little snippy.

“I didn’t want to be Hux’s, at first, but he didn’t want me either, until we realised we liked one another anyway,” Kylo says, his voice fighting for strength. “He let me go free and I decided to stay.”

“I...” Leia looks between them. “I’m going to need to think about that.”

“I’m happy with him, Mom,” Kylo insists. “He cares for me, and I care for him.”

Yes, that’s a better thing to focus on. “So much so that the Leader was unhappy, and sent a Knight to... interfere. But he... went too far and Kylo was forced to kill him to protect us both.”

“Which meant you were no longer in favour.”

“Which means we needed to leave,” Kylo confirms. 

Pensive, she clasps her hands before her. “And so you want asylum.”

“We’ll give you all we know about the Order, in exchange for safety,” Hux agrees. “Everything we know.”

“And that’s it?”

“Well, we’d only agree if you allowed us to be kept together, in whatever circumstances you deemed fitting,” Hux adds. “That’s non-negotiable. We are together, or we give you nothing.”

“And you don’t... how do you feel about that?” Leia asks her son.

“It’s non-negotiable,” he insists. “I didn’t come back to defect. I came back to stay with Hux.” 

“But you’re selling the Order out,” she reminds him.

“Because it’s my currency, and because I don’t believe in what they stand for,” the younger man replies.

“What about you? You were a General,” Leia points out.

“I was. I believed in the ideals of the _Order_ , but I then found out the Leader’s own beliefs... were not what I’d been led to think they were. And although I’m not convinced the Republic is the way to go, I’m even less convinced in Snoke’s leadership,” Hux answers. “He would give his own loyal followers as _gifts_ to others, or destroy them if they lost his favour. The Republic isn’t my first choice, but it’s better than following _him_.”

“I suppose that’s progress. Thank you for being honest with me,” she says.

“What are your plans for us?”

“I’m going to honour your request to stay together for now. I’ll get some staff to int—to ask you about the Order. We’ll get you to our base, and have you checked out medically. Then I think we’ll put you under house arrest until the leadership can review your intelligence, and discuss what controls we put into place. You’re probably going to need to remain grounded, though we might give you roaming of the planet’s surface.”

“We don’t mean any harm to the Resistance,” Hux insists. “Frankly, I wouldn’t have come if the Order had given me any choice in the matter, but what they did do was unacceptable. What they _are_ doing. I’d like them to stop.”

She turns to Kylo. “I know you might not be ready to come home properly, but you’re still my son. If you want to... I want as much involvement in your life as you’re prepared to allow me. At your own pace. We still love you, Ben.” She notices the wince. “It’s going to be hard learning to call you Kylo.”

“Please do. It’s what I go by.”

She nods, and – after another pause – leaves them. 

Hux knows they might well be observed, but he still wraps his arms around his lover. “That went as well as we could have hoped.”

“Yes. Thank you. I’m sorry I kind of fell apart.”

“It’s alright. You did a great job. We’re safe, now. We’re safe.” 

He hopes that’s true.


	9. Chapter 9

Hux has no idea where they’ve been taken. Even if he gets a chance to look up at the stars, he won’t be able to pinpoint their location in the galaxy. He might be smart, but he’s not an astromech unit. They’re marched from the landing pad to a detention centre, which is probably unavoidable.

They are, however, put in the same cell together. General Organa is true to her word, to date.

Kylo keeps pacing, even when Hux tries to get him to stop, so he just lets him do it. The man has a lot more hang-ups about being here than Hux has, and for once he isn’t in the mood to try to control him into shape. There will be surveillance cameras everywhere, and he doesn’t want the Resistance to know quite what their relationship entails.

“Do we tell them everything?” Kylo asks. “Or do we wait for a bargain?”

“We can’t escape,” Hux thinks aloud, “...so we don’t really have the option of walking off with our knowledge. They _could_ try to interrogate it out of us...”

“If we took too long?”

“Yes. If... if it wasn’t your mother, I would recommend we held back. But as I think – for all her flaws – she wants the best for you... that we won’t lose out by showing our good faith.”

He hopes so, anyway.

Maker, he hopes so.

“Alright. So. Everything?”

“Everything,” Hux agrees.

***

Everything is a lot. It takes them several weeks of testimony, answering questions for hours on end. Tactics. Fleet size. Supply routes. Access codes. Plans. Troop numbers. Hux has a lot of information to give out, and he prioritises to begin with, and then turns into a rote-repeating automaton by the end. He’s drunk his weight in water twice in a day, to keep his voice going... or so he feels. 

He wonders what Kylo’s answering questions on. There’s only six – well, now five – other Knights, but he suspects the Supreme Leader is the key to his statements.

Hux doesn’t have a problem with their almost-platonic evenings, when they eat together, and then curl up on the bed in one another’s arms. It’s close to ideal for him anyway, but he feels for Kylo. His lover’s sex drive has always been much higher, but it’s dulled to practically nothing in here.

Is it uncomfortable for him, to go through such a quiet spell? They’d been longer without sexual relations when they started their partnership, but he’s pretty sure Kylo jerked off a few times before they worked out something for both of them. He doesn’t know how you _ask_ someone if their penis is okay or not. Not with the potential for your lover’s mother to overhear the conversation, anyway.

When Leia arrives one morning, instead of their respective interrogators, Hux sits upright.

“Well?”

“The Alliance Council wants to summon you both. They have a few more questions before they sign off on your freedom.”

“Real freedom?”

“After a probationary period, and a review,” she agrees. “First you’ll be given the house arrest and limited on-world freedom we discussed. After a suitable time of showing your willingness to support our cause – or not to betray it, anyway – you will be declared free of all charges and constraints.”

Hux feels... strange. He didn’t hate the Order, just Snoke. He doesn’t quite hate the Republic and Resistance, but he has given them everything he knows. He’s not sure if he should cheer, or feel conflicted a while longer, or... what.

“Thank you,” he says, instead. 

“I would like... I would like if I could... spend time with my son.”

There’s the catch. Hux shakes his head. “We’re not agreeing to that, not right now.”

“You don’t have to. I’m simply stating that I would... like to rebuild whatever bridges I can. We could talk non-politics, or we could...” Leia sighs. “I am aware we didn’t do our best for you, B— _Kylo_ – or we did do our best, and it wasn’t good enough.”

Hux can feel his partner cringing, and he puts a hand on the small of his back. “Let us think about it when we’re not under pressure.”

“Alright. I’m sorry – I don’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. His father and I have missed him very dearly.”

“Mom, I... I just...” Kylo sits taller, too. “I’m still mad at you. I can’t just pretend I’m not.”

“I know. And... some of it I might agree with, I don’t know. I just... we’re your _family_. We still love you. We’ve got a chance to make some kind of thing out of this, if you’re prepared to, too.”

“What if I stay mad at you? What if I never feel better?”

“Then... that’s a risk I have to take. But I’ll still always love you, even if you’re angry.”

“Don’t ask me again,” Kylo requests. “Let me make the first move. I promise you if I ever feel like I can, then I will.”

“That’s all I’m asking for.” Leia Organa, General and Princess and Kylo Ren’s mother. She nods to them both, and waves. “Will you see the Council now?”

“The sooner the better.”

***

They want to know everything. Everything. Hux reels under the questions, and he knows Kylo is, too. It’s disgusting, considering both of them were threatened with what they were. Don’t they understand that they’re asking them to relive?

Maybe they don’t. 

Apparently wanting to protect yourself and your loved one isn’t an adequate reason in some of their eyes, and it makes him so very, very cross. 

“Why is our safety not an adequate reason for our defection?” he huffs, folding his arms across his chest. “Surely you want everyone to be safe?”

The Council-members glance between one another. 

“These things are things you say you’re against, but when someone comes across them, you don’t find their defection pretty or morally right enough for you?”

“That isn’t our concern,” the woman in bright colours replies. 

“Then what? Surely self-interest, and protection of someone you love is something you all consider to be _very_ pressing? Would you prefer I lied to you and told you I had other concerns, so you can all sleep well at night with your fake unselfish thoughts? Kylo had _already_ been punished for not assassinating his mother, and I needed to see first-hand what the Order – what _Snoke_ – was capable of.”

“You have no other moral objections to the Order, than what affected you personally. It would seem to be spite that made you leave.”

Really. Defending themselves from rape was _spite_. Hux takes a very, very deep breath, but Kylo speaks for them.

“You aren’t perfect, either. Don’t pretend you are. You have things that... people might object to. I’m not saying you approve of sexual assault, but I’m saying you have elements that are disliked. There is room for legitimate grievance against the Republic and Resistance, and you’re idiots if you don’t realise that the Order demonises you as much as you do them.”

Hux feels a swell of pride that Kylo’s speaking up for himself. Yes. Good.

“We are not—“

“You are not the Order,” Hux interrupts. “But the Order has many things it dislikes about your organisation. Some of those I still hold to, but not so much that I would ever betray the Republic. I _do_ politically agree with _some_ of their policies. I _do_ believe your way of life has some flaws. But I _also_ believe there is a fundamental cancer at the heart of the Order, and that is why I have made – **we** have made – the decision that we want to defect. In full knowledge of your flaws, and in appreciation for the places you do things _right_.”

Maker, but he’s annoyed. This is yet another thing to prove they’re not perfect, but holier-than-thou obsessions with moral rectitude and self-abasement are a damn sight easier to handle than threats against his body and will. 

Maybe he should just have said what they wanted to hear, but he’s not like that. He’s _sincere_ , and he’s not going to lie and pretend this is all happy clappy. It isn’t, and if he’s going to be here, it will be on his own terms. Maybe no one has ever stood up to them from within, maybe they’ve never really faced someone who is prepared to point out their flaws before.

But now they will. He’ll point them all out. Every last one.

“We’ll consider your testimony,” General Organa says. She’s not unbiased, but she’s still important enough to be here. “Would you please enjoy our hospitality until we conclude?”

Hux nods, and lets himself (and Kylo) be led from the room.

***

“So...?”

“They need us. More than for the intel, you know.”

Kylo frowns. “Why do you say that?”

“They don’t even know where they’re going wrong. They have no idea what their flaws are, because they just – they just keep going on like they’re the only answer!”

“So... they need people who don’t quite believe in them?”

“To make them self-aware, yes.”

“That’s twisted, but... I understand.” Kylo fusses with his shirt-sleeves, his boots turned soles-to-the-other, knees dancing in frustration. “Fix the system – or try to – instead of destroy it?”

“Yes. I would have... been happy staying with the Order, if not for what the Leader did. But he did those things, and it’s opened my eyes. We need safeguards against those abuses of power, but we also need to be critical of whatever system we’re in.”

“Spoken like a true politician,” comes the voice from the doorway. Leia tilts her head to them respectfully. “It’s your honesty that’s convinced the Council. They aren’t entirely happy with your motivation, but they trust that you’re sincere.”

“Mom... we don’t want to break down the Republic. We just want – we just want to make it a bit better,” Kylo reassures her.

“I know. There are elements to our procedures that I do not like, and there are also _individuals_ within our procedures that I do not like, but in working with them, I stand a better chance at a good future for the galaxy.”

“So we’re... free? On the base, at least?” Hux asks. 

“Yes. You’re free. I’ve secured a house for you adjacent to mine, in case... in case it’s needed. You’ll have freedom to access the holonet for download and receiving information, but if you want to send information, you’ll need to agree to have it monitored securely.”

Annoying, but fair. Hux knows intimately well what the Order does to prisoners, after all. 

“Please, it would be nice to go ‘home’,” he says. Home. Of a sort.

Well, it is home. Kylo will be there. 


	10. Chapter 10

The small house is bigger than his quarters on the _Finalizer_ , and Hux has never truly had a planet-side home before. Not unless you include the _Starkiller_ base, which had been pretty much a base dropped onto a planet.

This – the idea of walls and then _outside_ around them – is new to him. Hux knows intellectually that a bedroom is a bedroom no matter what is below or above it, but emotionally, it feels very different indeed. 

Kylo cocks his head, reading the expression on his face. Hux tries too late to school it plain, and then offers a tight-lipped smile.

“You don’t like it?” Kylo asks.

“No, I do, it’s... I’m just internalising it.”

It sounds strange, but it’s how he feels. It’s four walls and a roof, and he has to make the space and shape of it click inside his mind. After all, this could be their home for some time, if all goes well. He needs to recognise it as home, and feel... like he belongs? Something.

***

Inside, the decor is oddly more wooden than he remembers places being. There’s metal surfaces, of course, but there’s an abundance of tree-based furniture and trappings. The colours are more soft, muted browns and creams, with a few dashes of colour here and there. It’s more... rustic, is probably the best way to describe it. It looks like the kind of home you’d see on a holo: all... _wholesome_ and non-offensive. It’s like every possible thing that could be remotely considered military has been stripped.

Hux sort of hates it. It’s too bright, for someone used to dark metals and sharp, clean lines. It looks like they’re living inside a freaking tree. What are they, Wookies? Ewoks? No. They’re Humans, and Humans...

Kylo is holding back, and Hux realises he’s being respectful. He’s waiting for Hux to pronounce, and he turns to look as positive as he can. 

“What do you think?” Hux asks.

“I think... we need to put our own mark on it, but...”

He likes it. Force, did Leia decorate knowing what her son had once enjoyed? Is this the home furnishings Kylo _likes_? 

“You like it, don’t you?”

“You don’t?” Kylo asks.

“It’s... a bit... bright. And... unsettling.”

Kylo deflates, just a little. “We can change stuff.”

“We can, but... maybe we find the happy medium? Put a few things in that make me feel more at home, but still keep one theme across it?”

“Sounds great,” Kylo enthuses, and from the glitter in his eyes, he seems to mean it. 

Hmm. Hux nods, and signals that they can start doing their tour of the rooms.

***

Okay, once you get over the woody brownness, and start to think of it as just a _different_ kind of theme, but still a theme, it’s okay. The lack of any real vibration underfoot is odd. He’s been planetside for _weeks_ now, so he should already be re-acclimatised to that, but now it’s a _home_ it feels odd again. 

So is the carpet. There wasn’t a carpet where they were kept, and now he can remove his boots and scrunch his stocking-feet over the floor. He can hang up extra clothes in the wardrobe. He can... he can...

Hux wavers in the doorway, looking in on the bedroom. He’s not sure why _now_ it hits him, but it does. He’s got no job. No... meaningful thing. He’s been wrung of all his information, and now he’s expected to... what?

From being stuck in a cell and knowing his inactivity was beyond his control, to being nominally ‘free’ with no... goal? No tasks? No duties or responsibilities? He’s just... supposed to _exist_?

The realisation is a cold splash of water down his spine, and Hux turns, seeing Kylo’s worry before he runs over.

“Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m—what are we _doing_ here?”

Kylo’s hands hold his elbows as they bend, his expression one of outright worry. Hux isn’t used – even now – to someone doting on him, and a voice in his head snaps at him to push his lover away. 

“We thought it would be safer. And we... thought... we could help? Are you...”

Ah, shit. Now Kylo’s going to think he resents him for this, when nothing could be further from the truth. He’s got to get a grip on himself, for both their sakes. He’s the one who needs to be In Control, after all. “I’m not having second thoughts about getting you to safety. I’m... more concerned with what we can do to be useful and productive. As much as I enjoy your company _immensely_ , if I don’t have some other goals to help structure my day...”

“You... will... be bored?”

“Not _quite_ the word I was looking for. Goals – productivity – feeling _useful_ – all help to improve morale, and increase life satisfaction.” He knows this. He had to build enrichment into some of the troopers’ routines, after all. At first he’d considered it a waste of time, but their productivity and behaviour had skyrocketed in measurable, reliable terms once he’d done it. 

“You said you wanted to help the Republic... could you... consult on Order tactics?” 

It’s quite one thing running from everything he’d ever known, and then to spill his (not inconsiderable) insider information, but to actively help plans to bring them down? It does feel... bitter, but he has to remember his disgust with Snoke, and the other Knights. 

This is about more than just that personal problem, isn’t it? Even if that was the catalyst...

“Do you think your mother would accept my offer?”

“I think so. You wouldn’t be commanding, you’d be _advising_. And I could help from the Force side of things. If... you’d be happy with that?”

Hux smiles. “I would.” He’ll make the arrangements later, but it’s definitely good to have something of a plan.

***

That night is the first one Hux is sure they’re not being surveilled, and Hux is finally okay with sleeping nude again. He strips off, and then sees Kylo wavering.

He’s not erect, Hux checks, and so the reticence is likely...

“Clean yourself, and then find me a hairbrush. Bring it in your mouth, on your hands and knees. Make sure _it_ is clean, too.”

He’s going to need to improvise, until they can restock on toys without anyone seeing. 

Kylo mumbles a ‘yes, Sir’, and darts off to do as he’s bid. Hux watches the spring in his step, the lightness in his shoulders. He’s missed this element of their life, even if the sex part he can easily do without. 

True, he’s not _entirely_ devoid of libido, but as he spent decades with barely even the need to fantasise, so he’s not been all that disadvantaged. What he has missed, though, is seeing Kylo relaxed afterwards. 

His Knight comes back as requested, sitting on his haunches, head lowered, brush between his teeth. He waits obediently, and lets go of the brush when Hux puts his hand below his jaw. He’s held it as dryly as he can, which Hux is grateful for. Slobber isn’t really his style. 

“Get up. Bend over the foot of the bed. You’ve been a very patient boy for me, haven’t you?”

“I’ve tried, Master.”

It’s strange how eager Kylo is, even now. He’d not wanted to be a slave, and Hux hadn’t wanted one, but they’d found they could enjoy the roles, once they decided for themselves. 

Kylo’s shoulders twitch with anticipation, and Hux slips to his feet, feeling the carpet under his toes and soles. He smiles at the indulgence, and runs the brush’s teeth to zig-zag over Kylo’s muscular back. He’s so powerful, he could rip Hux in two without ever needing the Force. It’s strangely attractive.

Hux pushes the brush in harder, sweeping down his back. “You’ve waited very patiently. You haven’t complained at all. Has it been hard for you?”

Kylo hesitates before nodding. “Yes, Sir.”

“Have your balls been sore?” It’s second-hand knowledge, that. Hux has never felt frustrated, not really, but he can empathise with the base frustration, if not the reason why. 

“Yes, but...”

“But?” He lifts the brush, and waits.

“...people... watching. My... uh. Relatives. It... meant I didn’t. As well.”

Ah, yes. That makes even more sense. “But now no one is watching, I can make you mine again.”

Kylo whimpers, and arches onto the balls of his feet. The action extends his calves, cording the muscle from his bones, lifting his rump up higher in offering. “ _Yes_ , Sir.”

Hux has missed this. He spent years never knowing he’d like it, but once it was taken from him... he _missed_ it. He lifts the brush, and brings it down sharply over one shapely buttock, watching the flesh bounce on impact. 

The tiny exhalation is everything, that little sound of relief and need wound up together, and Hux smacks again, harder. This one has Kylo push into the bed, and then push back, whispering a broken _thank you_.

His long fingers knot into the bedding, and he writhes over the surface like he’s trying to make love to it, and Hux grabs his hair, yanking his head back. “Don’t try to fuck the bed, slave. If you’re allowed pleasure, I’ll control it.”

“Yes, Master,” Kylo replies, sounding utterly abashed. “I’m sorry, Sir.”

The tone of his voice is so... wonderful. That utter adoration and trust, the loyalty he’d always wanted from his troopers... no. Not loyalty, but fanatic worship. He’d thought the control over hundreds of thousands of lives would be enough, but it turns out he can get by just fine with _one_ , if that one is so intensely submissive as Kylo Ren.

His feet go flat, and his hands claw harder into the bed as he tries to behave, and Hux rewards him by a flurry of slaps. He knows to not put his whole strength in too soon, because not only will it hurt _him_ , but also Kylo won’t last as long. Better to work up, and build to the crescendo. The fact that he’s causing pain doesn’t even worry him, because he knows it’s _wanted_. Kylo _loves_ the sting of it, as much as the humiliation. It floods his body with endorphins, and once it’s over, he floats so prettily.

Slap. Slap. Slap. Moans and judders, and his slave bubbles out tiny murmurs of gratitude. Hux speeds up, putting his shoulder behind the cracks. Kylo’s pale ass is pink, and a few red welts where the edge caught harder than the rest. He’s panting, and Hux feels a thrill run through him, too. It doesn’t go to his cock, but somewhere else entirely: somewhere deep, and dark, and alive.

“Thank you,” Kylo says, in the middle of a round of softer whacks. “...f-for... for... saving me.”

That’s the last straw, and Hux drops the brush. He grabs a handful of hair, and turns Kylo’s head abruptly to one side.

His eyes are almost closed, his lips full from biting. Kylo’s cheeks are red high up, and he looks... utterly, utterly enraptured. Hux feels close himself, somehow tangled up in the pleasure. He’s done this. He’s made Kylo look like this. He’s got such absolute power over him, and the whole room feels supercharged.

Saving him. He should thank _Kylo_. 

“Say it again.”

“...thank you?”

“Again.”

“Thank you!”

He’d do anything. Anything. Hux leans in, biting at his lips, pushing them open with his tongue. He strokes into his mouth, tasting the choked-on words, and reaches his other hand for the man’s groin. As expected, he finds a full cock waiting for him, and he curls his palm and fingers around it. “Is this for me?”

Furious nodding.

“I want to hear you say it.”

“All for you, Master. Everything. Everything is for you.”

Hux rubs his thumb up and down, even as his hand stays still. “And if I tell you to go to bed hard?”

Kylo winces, but then nods. “Yes, Master.”

“And if I told you never to touch yourself again?”

“...I... would... obey.” 

It would be hard, but Hux believes him. He would. He can’t order him not to have a libido, but he _could_ order him to never act on it. His thumb rubs right under the head, and then strokes up to the little dribble pearling over the crown. He pushes it hard into the warm flesh, and listens to the way Kylo’s breath staggers.

He doesn’t feel guilty that he enjoys the fear, or the influence he wields. Why? Kylo wants it. He wants it. It’s _right_. 

“Maybe another time,” he muses, and starts to stroke him slowly, holding him between the hand in his hair, and the other on his cock. 

Kylo mewls, and the sound of his short nails on the bedding is so, so delicious. He’s fighting to stay still, and his words turn to more frantic requests and gratitude. He’s close, Hux can tell, and he puts his weight on one leg as he presses his mouth to Kylo’s again.

His slave wants to come. He twitches, and the inability to speak means he _can’t_ come, because he can’t ask for permission. Hux knows, and he jerks him with all the skills he’s learned, pinching, twisting, tugging. The arousal must be almost pain now, and Hux fucks his mouth with his tongue until he thinks Kylo’s going to disobey, despite himself.

He doesn’t want to have to punish him tonight, not after he’s been so good, for so long. He breaks the kiss, and pushes their noses together. “Come for me.”

“MASTER!” Kylo bellows, as two more strokes does just that.

Hux keeps up the jerking, even after Kylo’s dropped like a puppet with no strings. His heart is pounding so fast, but his face looks... beatific. Hux strokes the white goop over Kylo’s hip, and stands back. 

“Get up. Onto the bed. You’re going to be my little spoon tonight.”

“Y-yes, Sir,” Kylo says, scrambling with tired limbs into position.

Hux is a little more gracious as he climbs in behind him, his knees and arm pulling Kylo right where he wants him. It’s a bit sticky, but he knows Kylo will need some time to calm down before they can clean up. Plus... he kind of enjoys the cuddling.

He kisses over his neck, enjoying the radiating calm. Yes. This place will do just fine. 


	11. Chapter 11

Hux is thumbing through the rules and regulations of the Republic. He never thought to read about them when he was opposing them, using the high-level overviews he was presented, along with case studies, as his evidence that it was wrong. 

There’s still bloating. There’s problems about disproportionate representation. There’s a lot of financial waste.

But it’s not... all bad. 

Okay. There’s a lot bad, but it isn’t... evil. Not really. There’s rules that can be twisted and abused, and some very serious problems with redundancy, but the Republic’s rules were never set in place and codified in one smooth, military operation. There’s a whole heap of local, system-based legal structures that don’t quite mesh, and the overarching connecting branches – the legislature – is like the patches put on an old ship to keep her flying. 

Not that anyone would ever trust him to write a new set of rules. After all, he’d been a First Order General. Also, without some serious intervention, the status quo would stand. No one would go through a massive overhaul, no matter the potential benefits. It would require an awful lot of legal changes, and compromises.

A flimsi exercise, then. 

Hux looks up, and sees Kylo performing his katas through the window. He’s been throwing himself into his physical training, still refusing to really access the Force. His body is a thing to witness, and Hux is glad it belongs to him: Kylo _is_ very handsome, and strong. Hux can enjoy him aesthetically, and theoretically. He’s a powerful fighter, and an example of humanity in peak condition. He’s also very attractive, but Hux isn’t sure if that attraction came _after_ he got to like him as a person or not.

Kylo’s eyes meet his, and Hux nods, thumbing over his shoulder. ‘I’ll be gone,’ he mouths.

The Knight nods in response, and goes back to his training.

Hux has to do this.

***

“I have to say I am both pleased and surprised to see you,” Leia says, as she walks him into her home. “I appreciate this situation is difficult for you to be in.”

“You mean, betraying everything I was brought up to believe in? Yes. Which was the same for your son, when he joined the Order.”

“...that... is probably very true.” Pain flickers around her crows-footed eyes at that.

“I mean that as a compliment, by the way. He definitely was conflicted. He wanted to come back, and didn’t.”

“How much did he tell you about why he left, or about us?”

“Enough to know he was never happy, wherever he was. The happiest he’s ever been has been with the dampening collar on.”

Leia looks ready to hit something, her temper an eerie echo of her son. “Snoke.”

“Yes. I don’t know if you could have protected him further, without literally blocking the Force from him, but I’m also glad you didn’t. Although he suffered...”

“He wouldn’t have met you.”

“Yes.” And selfish as it is, Hux does... love him. In his own, weird, messed up way. He loves him. 

“The fact that you were willing to face the Republic, and the legal consequences of your actions, just to keep him safe... that says a lot to me. I’m not going to pretend what you’ve done doesn’t disgust me, but... I’ve ordered the deaths of thousands, too.”

“War has a talent for that.”

“What I’m trying to say is: I’m glad my son has you. You do seem to make him happy, and you do seem to have his best interests at heart, and I’m grateful. I know I wasn’t the ideal mother, but I have _never_ stopped loving my son.”

Hux wonders how it must feel, knowing your parent loves you. He’d never had that luxury, and he never will, now. The concept of being loved at _all_ is new, and it’s thanks to Kylo that he’s starting to see it’s possible he _can_ be loved. 

“I came to talk politics with you, General, if—“

“For one, you don’t call me ‘General’. Not in private. I’m Leia, or Ma’am, if you insist. You’re dating my son, remember?”

“Would you... mind if I asked you to only call me ‘Hux’?”

“It’s what my son calls you, isn’t it? Then yes, I’ll call you what you like.”

“Thank you.” His name is more than he feels ready to talk about _just_ yet. “If I am going to support the Republic – and I must – then I want to find ways to help it.”

“I thought your desertion was practical, self-interest?”

Hux nods. “It was. But I made the decision that the bad parts of the Order... all the good in that organisation could never justify those elements. Therefore, I must convert.”

“I’m listening.”

“I am not the kind to sit idly by. I’m also an asset, more than just for the intelligence I have. I have skill with regulations as much as strategy... but no one would take me seriously without some sponsor, or recommendation.”

“Understood. You know I can’t carte blanche approve of any initiative...”

“I do, that’s why I... wanted to ask your advice. Both on what kind of working party might be useful, and what areas to focus on. I understand policy reform is slow, and lobbying is frought...”

Leia’s hands clasp over one knee. “Are you sure you’re ready for that? I’ve read some of the First Order’s literature and propaganda. I know the inefficiencies are a big part of the argument for your old employers.”

“You’re concerned I wouldn’t be able to work within the constraints?”

“Work within them... no, I’m sure you could. Remain optimistic, driven, and sane? That’s another thing entirely. I was raised the daughter of a Senator and a Queen. I know the system inside and out.”

Hux knows she does, that’s why he asked for her help. Even without the nepotistic tug on her apron strings, her sheer breadth and depth of knowledge and experience is second to none. “I want to live in the best possible world for me.”

“The best possible world for you isn’t the best possible world for everyone.”

“Then perhaps I wasn’t specific enough: the best possible world for me, whilst bearing others’ needs in mind. I’m aware I’ll need to compromise, and to work out what my real priorities are.”

“And sacrifice some principles. And give up things you want. And let your personal grudges and dislikes be made secondary – or ignore them entirely.”

“Ma’am, with all due respect—“

Her hand lifts. “You think I’m being hard on you, but you’ll hear much worse from those you want to convince. You need to go into the room knowing _exactly_ what you won’t bend on, and what you’re prepared to sacrifice. You need to go in and be prepared to be flayed to pieces by anyone you negotiate with. And you need to know you’ll lose as many battles as you win, if you’re _lucky_.”

It’s so easy to feel the threat of annoyance right there. Just... so close to the surface. He’s been the one In Control for so long that the idea of being talked down to like this... He _knows_ it’s her helping him, but it still rankles. Deep down inside, he’s still General Hux, even if he isn’t.

“I know it isn’t going to be easy. I know people will assume I am trying to poison the state from within. I know that, but I still want to... do something. I have talents. I have ambition. Why not put it to good use?”

The stateswoman leans way forwards on her chair, examining his face, reading his expression. Seemingly satisfied, she nods. “The best thing to do for you would be to study the actual workings. Read up on how laws are passed, altered, enforced. Watch the public holorecords of proceedings. You need to understand a system in order to improve it. Once you have a real angle, a real mission statement, come back to me and we’ll make it blasterproof, and then discuss strategy.”

The sudden rush of satisfaction and gratitude is... strange. She’s taking him seriously, and she’s prepared to give him her time. Although she’s been the enemy for all of his life, she’s willing to try, and it only makes him feel more determined. 

“I will do that. And... thank you.”

“Anyone who wants to make the galaxy a better place – and is prepared to talk to other people about it – should be supported. This is a big deal, whether you know it, or not. I believe you can make a real contribution, and I’m sure you will, if it’s what you want.”

“It is.” If he has to live in this world, it better be as close to perfect as at all possible.

***

Kylo’s sitting at the breakfast nook when Hux gets back, his legs woven around the legs of his stool. He’s not broken a sweat, but he’s glowing with satisfaction. Hux encourages fitness, not just for the contingency, but also for the release of tension. Kylo always seems to be more settled after it, and only their bedroom play is better for his moods. 

“Hey.”

“Hey yourself,” Hux says, walking up close to kiss his hair, and breathe him in. “Good session?”

“Very.” Kylo’s got that dopey, happy, excited expression he tries so hard to hide. 

Hux can’t help but feel something deep and abiding at that. He... likes to see Kylo happy, and he grips the back of his neck, squeezing reassuringly, before sliding his hand down to his shoulder. 

“What did you get up to?” Kylo asks. “You weren’t gone long.”

“I went to see your mother.” There’s no easy way to bring her into the conversation, and he feels the tension build in his lover’s muscles. “Don’t worry. I wanted her advice and support on a political matter. I want to lobby for reforms.”

“So... you’re going to rise through these ranks, too?” There’s a little recrimination in his tone, his eyes skittering away.

“We did discuss this. Are you now not in favour?”

“No, it’s... it’s... forget it.”

“Kylo, this is serious. If it’s making you uncomfortable, I want to know why, and what we can do to alleviate that.”

“It’s stupid.” 

Kylo tries to stand, and Hux pushes him back into the chair. He’s not sure if he should use force or not in a disagreement, but Kylo _could_ always shake him off if he really wanted to. 

“Your feelings are not stupid. I would like to hear them.”

“It is stupid! You’ll get bored just... hanging out with me... so I should just...” A shudder, and he’s clearly fighting something deep.

“I enjoy your company, but I also need tasks to complete, to feel useful. It... is part of who I am. I also want to make the galaxy better, and if I do that within the Republic’s rules, it means following their methods.”

“I’ll become a political widow, like I was a political orphan.”

Oh. Hux grips his shoulder harder. “You think I will... not pay attention to you?”

A shrug under his grip, and Hux feels his stomach drop to his knees. 

“Kylo... I will not abandon you, not now. I’m going to spend some time on this project, but if it’s becoming too much, and you need me to slow down for periods, I can. And... I had hoped you might work on it with me.”

“...with my mother?”

“I can be a buffer between you, if you need me to. I... would appreciate your support with this. It would make things much easier for me, and we’d be able to spend time doing something useful together.” 

“And if I decided I didn’t like it?”

“Then of course you’d stop. I just... can’t sit idly and do nothing, I would go insane. And I’d be even more unpleasant company for you. This isn’t me trying to run away from you, or putting a cause before you. Whatever your family did – or didn’t do – to you, it’s going to be different, I promise.”

“I guess we can try.”

“The only thing is: I need you to be honest with me. If you _are_ feeling neglected, let me know. Don’t try to conceal it to save my feelings.”

“...but you—“

“Would be much more hurt by you lying to cushion me from the truth, than knowing I was doing things wrong.”

“...oh.” Kylo scrunches up a little. “I’m sorry I got pissy about it. It’s... it was hard, when I was young. I hated Mom because she would be so busy...”

“But I’m not your mother, Kylo. And you’re not a child, now. You can tell me when things are wrong, and I promise I will do my best to listen. I’m not perfect, but I’ll do my _best_ to balance work and life.”

Kylo’s eyes look up at him, slightly worried, very needy. Hux drops to kiss his forehead, and then pulls him into his hip, stroking through his hair. 

“Okay. I trust you.”

“I know. That’s why you told me this worried you, and I’m grateful for that.”

“You’re glad I complain?”

“If you complain, it means you want things to be better. You want to fix things, and it working _means_ something to you.”

Kylo snorts. “Means something? Hux... it means everything. I... you’re... you’re everything. I love you, and I’m terrified you’ll resent me, and turn to your work to get away from me.”

“I _swear_ to you, I am _not_ resentful of you. Not ever, not once. You... you showed me who I really am. _You_. I love you, just as much.”

Long fingers curl over his, and Kylo turns to kiss his wrist. “Then yes. Anything you want. You have only to command me.”

Hux’s other hand goes into his hair, pulling his head back, exposing his throat. “I know, and when I need to control you, I will. And when I want you to speak your mind, I’ll command you to.”

“ _Yes, Master_.”

“Now I want you to show me just how _much_ you trust me. Are you ready?”

“Always, Master. Always.” 


End file.
